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EDITED  BY 

WILLIAM  T.  HARRIS,  A.  M.,  LL.  D. 


Volume  XL 


INTEKNATIONAL  EDUCATION  SERIES. 

Edited  by  W.  T.  Harris. 


It  is  proposed  to  publish,  under  the  above  title,  a  library  for  teachers 
and  school  managers,  and  text-books  for  normal  classes.  The  aim  will 
be  to  provide  works  of  a  useful  practical  character  in  the  broadest  sense. 
The  following  conspectus  will  show  the  ground  to  be  covered  by  the  series: 

I,— History  of  Education.  (a.)  Original  systems  as  ex- 
pounded by  their  founders,  (b.)  Critical  histories  which  set  forth  the 
customs  of  the  past  and  point  out  their  advantages  and  defects,  explain- 
ing the  grounds  of  their  adoption,  and  also  of  their  final  (Jisusc. 

II. — educational  Criticism,  (a.)  The  noteworthy  arraign- 
ments which  educational  reformers  have  put  forth  against  existing  sys- 
tems :  these  compose  the  classics  of  pedagogy,  (b.)  The  critical  histories 
above  mentioned, 

III.— Systematic  Treatises  on  the  Theory  of  Edu- 
cation, (a.)  Works  written  from  the  historical  standpoint;  these, 
for  the  most  part,  show  a  tendency  to  justify  the  traditional  course  of 
study  and  to  defend  the  prevailing  methods  of  instruction,  (b.)  Works 
written  from  critical  standpoints,  and  to  a  greater  or  less  degree  revolu- 
tionary in  their  tendency. 

IV. — The  Art  of  Education.  (a.)  Works  on  instruction 
and  discipline,  and  the  practical  details  of  the  school-room,  (b.)  Works 
on  the  organization  and  supervision  of  schools. 

Practical  insight  into  the  educational  methods  in  vogue  can  not  be 
attained  without  a  knowledge  of  the  process  by  which  they  have  come  to 
be  established.  For  this  reason  it  is  proposed  to  give  special  prominence 
to  the  history  of  the  systems  that  have  prevailed. 

Again,  since  history  is  incompetent  to  furnish  the  ideal  of  the  future, 
it  is  necessary  to  devote  large  space  to  works  of  educational  criticism. 
Criticism  is  the  purifying  process  by  which  ideals  are  rendered  clear  and 
potent,  so  that  progress  becomes  possible. 

History  and  criticism  combined  make  possible  a  theory  of  the  whole. 
For,  with  an  ideal  toward  which  the  entire  movement  tends,  and  an  ac- 
count of  the  phases  that  have  appeared  in  time,  the  connected  develop- 
ment of  the  whole  can  be  shown,  and  all  united  into  one  system. 

Lastly,  after  the  science,  comes  the  practice.  The  art  of  education  is 
treated  in  special  works  devoted  to  the  devices  and  technical  details  use- 
ful in  the  school-room. 

It  is  believed  that  the  teacher  does  not  need  authority  so  much  as  in- 
sight in  matters  of  education.  When  he  understands  the  theory  of  edu- 
cation and  the  history  of  its  growth,  and  has  matured  his  own  point 
of  view  by  careful  study  of  the  critical  literature  of  education,  then  he  is 
competent  to  select  or  invent  such  practical  devices  as  are  best  adapted 
to  his  own  wants. 

The  series  will  contain  works  from  European  as  well  as  American 
authors,  and  will  be  under  the  editorship  of  W.  T.  Harris,  A.  M.,  LL.  D, 
The  price  for  the  volumes  of  the  series  will  be  $1.50  for  the  larger 
volumes,  75  cents  for  the  smaller  ones. 


Vol.  I.    The  Philosophy  of  Education.     By  johann  Karl 

Friedrich  Rosenkranz.     $1.60. 

Vol.  II.  A  History  of  Education.  By  r.of.  F.  V.  N.  Painter, 
of  Roanoke,  Virginia.     $1.50. 

Vol.  m.  The  Rise  and  Early  Constitution  of  Univer- 
sities. With  a  Survey  of  Mediaeval  Education.  By  S.  S.  Laurie, 
LL.  D.,  Professor  of  the  Institutes  and  History  of  Education  in  the 
University  of  Ediubui'gh.     $1.50. 

Vol.  IV.  The  Ventilation  and  Warming  of  School 
Buildings.  By  Gilbert  B.  Morrison,  Teacher  of  Physics  and 
Chemistry  in  Kansas  City  High-School.     15  cents. 

Vol.  V.  The  Education  of  Man.  By  Friedrich  Froebel. 
Translated  from  the  German  and  annotated  by  W.  N.  Hailmann, 
Superintendent  of  Public  Schools  at  La  Porte,  Indiana.     $1.50. 

Vol.  VL    Elementary  Psychology  and  Education.    By 

Joseph   Baldwin,   Principal   of   the   Sam   Houston   State   Normal 
School,  Huntsville,  Texas.     $1.50. 

Vol.  Vn.  The  Senses  and  the  Will.  Observations  concern- 
ing the  Mental  Development  of  the  Human  Being  in  the  First  Years 
of  Life.  By  W.  Preyer,  Professor  of  Physiology  in  Jena.  Trans- 
lated from  the  original  German,  by  H.  W.  Brown,  Teacher  in  the 
State  Normal  School  at  Worcester,  Mass.  Part  I  of  The  Mind  of 
THS  Child.    $1.50. 

Vol.  VIII.  Memory.  What  it  is  and  how  to  improve  it.  By  David 
Kay,  F.  R.  G.  S.     $1.50. 

Vol  IX.  The  Development  of  the  Intellect.  Observa- 
tions concerning  the  Mental  Development  of  the  Human  Being  in 
the  First  Years  of  Life.  By  W.  Preyer,  Professor  of  Physiology  in 
Jena.  Translated  from  the  original  German,  by  H.  W.  Brown, 
Teacher  in  the  State  Normal  School  at  Worcester,  Mass.  Part  II 
of  The  Mind  of  the  Child.     $1.50. 

Vol.  X.  How  to  Study  Geogrraphy.  By  Francis  W.  Parker. 
Prepared  for  the  Professional  Training  Class  of  the  Cook  County 
Normal  School. 


INTERNATIONAL  EDUCATION  SERIES 


EDUCATION 
IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 


ITS  HISTORY 
FROM  THE  EARLIEST  SETTLEMENTS 


BY 

RICHARD   G.   BOONE,  A.M. 

PROFESSOR    OF    PEDAGOGY     IN    INDIANA    UNIVERSITY 


NEW    YORK 
D.    APPLETON     AND     COMPANY 

1889 

U.  C.  L  A. 

EDUC.  DEPT.- 


COPYRIOHT,   1889, 

By  D.  APPLETON  AND  COMPANY. 


U.  a  L  A ,       LA 
EDUC.  DEPT.       ^^ 


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EDITOE'S  PEEFACE. 


The  editor  takes  gi*eat  pleasure  in  presenting  this 
work  to  the  public,  as  the  first  noteworthy  attempt  at  a 
general  history  of  education  in  the  United  States.  It 
forms  a  tolerably  complete  inventory  of  what  exists,  as 
well  as  an  account  of  its  origin  and  development. 

Ever  since  the  Oracle  uttered  the  admonition  "  Know 
thyself,"  civilized  man  has  been  slowly  turning  his  atten- 
tion to  the  importance  of  studying  the  deeds  and  institu- 
tions of  his  race.  He  finds  in  them  a  revelation  of  human 
nature  altogether  above  and  apart  from  the  self-knowledge 
that  comes  to  each  individual  through  his  own  conscious- 
ness. For  in  the  history  of  deeds  and  institutions  there 
stands  out  prominently  the  efl&gy  of  human  nature  in  its 
essential  outlines.  In  contrast  to  this  the  individual  con- 
sciousness offers  a  picture  in  which  the  essential  is  obscured 
or  obliterated  by  the  complications  of  the  passing  moment, 
which  assume  undue  importance. 

Modern  science  has  caught  most  fully  the  meaning  of 
the  Oracle  It  has  become  fully  aware  of  the  importance 
of  knowing  every  object  in  the  light  of  its  history.  How 
it  began  and  how  it  developed  must  lead  to  a  knowledge 
of  what  it  is.  The  knowledge  of  a  thing  only  as  a  dead 
result  is  very  superficial.    We  learn  what  it  is  good  for 


vi  EDITOR'S  PREi'ACE. 

by  seeing  it  in  the  entire  sphere  of  its  action.  This  reveals 
its  living  force  and  character. 

Pi-actical  knowledge,  in  the  eminent  sense  of  the  word, 
is  to  be  found  in  this  study  of  history.  The  statesman  or 
the  teacher  knows  practically  when  he  knows  the  trend  of 
the  system  which  he  is  to  direct  or  manage. 

As  a  mere  inventory,  the  results  of  this  history  will 
at  first  surprise  us.  We  see  the  broad  scope  of  the  educa- 
tional idea — not  merely  its  school  course  from  the  Kinder- 
garten to  the  university,  but  its  supplementary  institutions, 
the  library,  the  museum,  the  reading  circle,  the  scientific 
association,  the  variety  of  special  schools ;  the  wide-spread 
impulse  toward  founding  educational  institutions,  showing 
itself  in  all  the  colonies  at  the  beginning,  and  increasing 
with  the  growth  of  the  nation.  All  this  becomes  impress- 
ive only  when  seen  in  the  solid  mass. 

But,  more  than  all,  the  trend  of  the  movement  inter- 
ests us  as  it  becomes  apparent  through  the  contrast  of 
beginnings  with  subsequent  stages  of  unfolding : 

1.  We  see  everywhere  a  movement  from  private,  en- 
dowed, and  parochial  schools  toward  the  assumption  of 
education  by  the  State.  The  General  Government,  founded 
"  to  promote  the  general  welfare,"  as  the  preamble  to  the 
Constitution  recites,  has  fostered  education  from  the  begin- 
ning by  extensive  donations  of  lands.  States  first  establish 
colleges  and  universities,  and  next  free  common  elementary 
schools ;  and  afterward  gradually  fill  in  intermediate  links 
of  the  system,  and  then  add  supplementary  institutions. 
By-and-by  State  systems  of  education  for  the  unfortunates 
and  criminal  classes  arise.  Then  special  schools  for  the 
training  of  teachers,  and  the  foundation  and  support  of 
libraries  and  museums  at  public  expense  begin.  Private 
endowment  and  religious  zeal  initiate  new  lines  of  educa- 


EDITOR'S  PREFACE,  vii 

tional  experiment,  and  as  soon  as  tlieir  utility  to  the  gen- 
eral welfare  is  demonstrated  they  are  adopted  into  the 
system  of  free  education  supported  at  public  expense. 

2.  There  is  a  trend  away  from  isolated  efforts  and  to- 
ward system  and  supervision.  System  has  this  advantage, 
that  it  makes  supervision  possible.  It  is  the  object  of 
general  superintendence  to  discover  what  is  fruitful  and 
promising  in  the  work  of  individuals  or  localities,  and  to 
strengthen  the  whole  system  by  making  the  adoption  of 
these  improvements  universal.  Each  shall  contribute 
something  worth  adopting  by  all,  and,  in  turn,  avail  him- 
self of  their  experience.  In  this  lies  the  great  significance 
of  our  national  trend  toward  system. 

3.  There  has  been  a  trend  in  methods.  This  appears 
in  several  particulars,  namely,  in  the  adaptation  of  the 
matter  of  instruction  to  the  mind  of  the  child,  so  that  he 
assimilates  relatively  more,  and  memorizes  or  stores  up  in 
an  undigested  form  relatively  less.  This  adaptation  ap- 
pears most  noticeably  in  the  instruction  of  the  primary 
grades,  and,  next  to  this,  in  the  advanced  instruction  in 
natural  history  and  physics.  The  pupil  is  made  to  con- 
duct his  own  researches,  and  is  furnished  the  material  for 
study.  The  methods  also  have  improved,  in  the  fact  that 
they  widen  the  investigation  into  collateral  branches. 
Formerly  each  subject  was  isolated  from  its  relations; 
now  it  is  illuminated  by  light  thrown  on  it  from  other 
provinces.  The  methods  of  discipline  have  generally  im- 
proved. Corporal  punishment  has  been  very  much  dimin- 
ished. The  entire  educational  idea  of  the  people  has  pro- 
gressed in  the  direction  of  divine  charity.  The  institu- 
tions for  the  education  of  women,  together  with  the  men- 
tioned supplementary  institutions  for  unfortunates  (the 
deaf  and  dumb,  the  blind,  the  feeble-minded,  etc.),  and 


viii  EDITOR'S  PREi'ACE. 

for  the  reform  of  criminals,  the  multiplication  of  means  of 
education  for  the  youngest  children — all  show  this.  Again, 
the  opening  of  free  public  libraries,  museums,  and  courses 
of  lectures,  shows  the  logical  results  of  the  democratic  prin- 
ciple in  the  diffusion  of  knowledge.  Teach  the  people 
how  to  read,  and  then  furnish  them  what  is  best  to  read. 

Our  national  Government  bases  itself  on  the  ability  of 
the  people  as  people  to  govern  themselves  through  the 
ballot-box.  The  history  of  education  shows  how  it  has 
seemed  fit  to  make  provision  for  the  enlightenment  of 
those  citizens.  It  has  grown  clear  in  the  process  of  ages 
that  the  only  help  which  may  be  safely  given  to  individ- 
uals or  communities  is  the  help  that  aids  and  increases 
self-help.  All  other  help  dwarfs  the  individual  and  weak- 
ens the  State.  Now,  the  only  infallible  aid  to  self-help 
that  has  been  found  up  to  this  time  is  education  which 
produces  intellectual  enlightenment  and  training  in  moral 
habits.  This  alone  is  a  help  that  is  good  alike  for  sound 
and  perverse.  It  improves  the  former  and  corrects  the 
latter.  This  view  of  education  has  been  seen  by  the  fathers 
of  the  republic,  and  preached  by  the  religious  founders  of 
our  colonies.  The  conviction  has  become  so  generally 
prevalent  that  it  has  produced  the  joint  action — private, 
national.  State,  and  municipal — looking  toward  the  foun- 
dation and  encouragement  of  schools  and  supplementary 
institutions,  recorded  in  this  book.  The  patriotic  will 
hope  that  the  results  reached  are  encouraging;  at  all 
events,  whether,  gratifying  or  otherwise,  the  study  of  the 
facts  is  necessary  and  salutary  to  Americans  interested  in 
the  welfare  of  their  country. 

W.  T.  Harris. 

COKCOBD,  Hassachusxtts,  Jfatf,  1889. 


AUTHOR'S   PREFACE. 


It  is  now  generally  recognized  that  any  complete 
study  of  education  must  include  the  historical  no  less 
than  the  critical  and  practical  phases.  Neither  can  be 
left  out  of  account.  Wanting  the  theory,  instruction 
becomes  aimless ;  without  knowledge  of  means,  wasteful. 
But  the  teacher  who  presumes  to  work  without  an  ac- 
quaintance with  the  record  of  his  profession,  is  like  a 
ship  lacking  log-book  and  compass — ^progress  will  be  only 
a  happening. 

And  yet,  of  general  histories  of  education,  there  are, 
in  English,  less  than  half  a  dozen,  only  two  of  which 
are  more  than  primers.  In  these  two,  American  schools 
receive  the  merest  mention — eightee?i  pages  in  one,  and 
tioo  in  the  other.  For  the  only  other  attempts  at  a 
notice  of  our  State  and  municipal  systems,  we  are  in- 
debted to  foreign  interest.  Prominent  among  these  are 
P.  A.  Siljestrom's  "  Educational  Institutions  of  the 
United  States "  (1855) ;  Rev.  James  Eraser's  report  to 
the  Parliamentary  Schools  Inquiry  Commission,  on  "  The 
Common-School  System  of  the  United  States "  (1865) ; 
Francis  Adams's  "  Free  Schools  of  the  United  States " 
(1874) ;  and  occasional  statements  drawn  from  educa- 
tional exhibits  and  conferences  at  international  exposi- 


X  AUTHOR'S  PREFACE. 

tions.  These  are  all  more  or  less  critical  estimates  of 
American  schools  as  seen  through  foreign  eyes;  were 
all  made  for  special  purposes ;  are  chiefly  descriptive,  and 
rarely  historical.  Valuable  as  they  are  in  themselves, 
they  are  imperfect  as  setting  forth  American  schools  to 
American  teachers.  Profit  comes  always  from  a  close 
and  comparative  study  of  current  systems,  their  general 
aims,  conditions,  and  accompanying  agencies;  and  the 
books  named  can  render  an  incalculable  service  to  Ameri- 
can teachers.  But  so  vitally  is  every  present  related  to  its 
past,  that  the  study  of  contemporary  institutions  can  be 
made  intelligent  only  in  the  light  of  their  origin.  To 
know  along  what  lines  in  educational  experience  have 
been  the  great  changes,  and  why,  and  so  what  is  new  and 
what  old,  in  current  doctrine  and  practice,  serves  to 
temper  undue  enthusiasm  over  real  or  supposed  new  de- 
partures, and  saves  from  condemning  the  worthy  only 
because  it  chances  to  be  old. 

While  it  can  not  be  claimed  that  education  is  more 
seriously  regarded  now  than  by  the  thinkers  of  every 
past  generation,  it  certainly  is  more  widely  studied.  More 
is  demanded  of  the  body  of  teachers — more  professionally 
and  socially.  The  inferior  teacher  has  an  increasingly 
smaller  hope  of  public  confidence ;  the  well-informed 
one,  more  of  leadership.  This  is  the  meaning  of  normal 
schools,  institutes,  reading-circles,  teachers'  classes,  and 
professional  libraries.  It  is  believed  that  this  history  may 
help  along  this  impulse — make  it  possible  to  study  intelli- 
gently, and  as  a  whole,  the  particular  but  complex  institu- 
tion called  the  American  School. 

The  book  lays  no  claim  to  completeness.  It  is  meant 
to  be  a  text-book,  suggestive  of  lines  of  thought  for  the 
teacher,  and  sources  of  information.     One  constant  aim 


AUTHOR'S  PREFACE.  xi 

has  been,  avoiding  mere  description  on  the  one  side,  and 
personal  criticism  on  the  other,  to  exhibit  faithfully  the 
development  of  contemporary  institutions  and  educational 
forces  with  something  of  their  national  setting. 

To  bring  the  sketch  into  a  small  compass,  within 
reach  of  the  leisure  and  conditions  of  the  body  of  teachers, 
and  yet  omit  no  fundamental  factor  in  the  educational 
movement  of  two  centuries  and  a  half,  have  compelled  a 
frequent  readjustment  of  materials.  But  it  seemed  bet- 
ter, all  things  considered,  to  cover  the  whole  field  of 
elementary,  higher,  and  special  educations,  and  so  give 
a  basis  for  special  studies  by  individuals-  Besides,  so 
interwoven  are  the  interests  of  the  one  with  those  of  the 
others,  that  no  treatment  of  the  common-school  system 
would  be  complete  that  ignored  the  academies  and  col- 
leges, and  vice  versa. 

The  author  has  been  placed  under  repeated  obliga- 
tions to  the  librarian,  assistants,  and  other  officials  of 
Johns  Hopkins  University,  during  some  months'  resi- 
dence at  which  most  of  the  present  work  took  shape ; 
and  particularly  his  indebtedness  to  Dr.  Gr.  Stanley  Hall, 
whose  long  and  varied  educational  experience,  and  wide 
reading,  through  much  counsel  and  suggestion,  have  con- 
tributed to  whatever  of  value  the  book  may  have.  The 
Peabody  Library,  of  ninety  thousand  volumes,  including 
much  valuable  literature  upon  special  phases  of  education 
and  educational  institutions,  and  the  Maryland  Historical 
Library,  both  of  Baltimore ;  the  Library  of  Congress,  and 
the  Pedagogical  Library  of  the  United  States  Bureau  of 
Education,  at  "Washington — thanks  to  Librarian  A.  R. 
Spofford  and  Commissioner  Dawson — were  both  freely 
and  frequently  used. 

The  great  task,  of  course,  was  in  the  gathering  and 


xii  AUTHOR'S  PKEFACE. 

sifting  of  materials.  These  were  found  in  abundance, 
but  widely  scattered ;  not  generally  to  be  had  in  cyclo- 
paedias or  compilations,  but  in  journals,  both  general  and 
educational,  often  in  broken  sets ;  in  monographs  and 
addresses ;  in  reports  and  manuals ;  in  histories ;  and  in 
the  proceedings  of  educational  bodies  and  learned  acade- 
mies, and  in  the  annual  statements  of  special  institutions. 

Barnard's  "American  Journal  of  Education"  (1855- 
'80),  and  the  "  Official  Reports  of  the  United  States  Bureau 
of  Education"  (18C8-'87),  have  been  the  sources  of  the 
most,  and  most  valuable,  information  for  the  periods  they 
cover.  In  addition  to  the  frequent  mention  of  them 
throughout  the  volume,  the  author's  formal  acknowledg- 
ment of  their  services  is  here  gratefully  given.  Care  has 
been  taken  to  verify  facts,  where  it  has  been  possible,  by 
reference  to  first  and  official  records.  But,  as  has  already 
been  suggested,  much  has  had  to  be  taken  at  second-hand. 
Of  any  errors  of  statement,  either  statistical  or  other,  the 
correction  will  be  gratefully  received  and  cheerfully  used. 

The  bibliography  following  each  chapter  is  meant  to 
cover,  not  so  much  the  accepted  and  standard  literature, 
which  may  be  found  in  any  general  catalogue,  as  in  a 
limited  way  to  call  attention  to  some  of  the  best  recent 
literature,  whether  of  books,  pamphlets,  or  magazine  arti- 
cles. Never  was  the  general  press  more  given  to  an  all- 
sided  discussion  of  educational  interests  than  now ;  and 
the  professionally  inclined  teacher  finds  it  necessary  to  be 
acquainted  with  its  contents.  As  suggesting  lines  of  col- 
lateral and  special  reading,  these  brief  reference-lists  are 
given  a  place. 

R.  G.  BOONE. 
Bloominoton,  Indiana,  April,  1S89. 


CONTENTS. 


Inteodcction         .....  ...      1 

PART  I.    THE  COLONIAL  PERIOD. 

CHAP. 

I.  The  Earliest  American  Schools 9 

1.  New  York  and  the  Dutch  West  India  Company. 
2.  Virginia  and  the  Virginia  Company.  3.  Early  New 
England  Schools. 

II.  Colonial  Colleges 20 

1.  Harvard  College.  2.  The  College  of  William  and 
Mary.     8.  Yale  College. 

ni.  Colonial  School  Systems 43 

1.  The  Massachusetts  Law  of  1647.  2.  The  Connecticut 
Code  of  1650.  3.  Other  New  England  Schools  and 
Teachers.  4.  New  York  prior  to  the  Revolution. 
5.  Pennsylvania  prior  to  the  Revolution.  6.  New  Jer- 
sey prior  to  the  Revolution.  7.  Colonial  Education  in 
the  South. 

PART  II.    THE  REVOLUTIONARY  PERIOD. 

IV.  Elementary  Education 61 

1.  "Pauper"  Schools.  2.  Teachers.  3.  Common-School 
Text-Books.     4.  The  Education  of  Girls. 

V.  Academies  and  Colleges 70 

1.  Academies.     2.  Colleges. 
1 


XIV  CONTENTS. 


PART  m.    THE  PERIOD   OF  REORGANIZATION. 

OHAP.  P*0» 

VI.  Cbntralizino  Tendencies  .        .        .        •        .        .        .79 
1.  The  Transition.     2.  The   Creation   of  School-Funds. 
8.  Permanent  Funds  and  Local  Taxes. 

VII.   Centralizing  Tendencies  {continued). — School  Supervision    94 
1.  The  District  System.     2.  State  Supervision.     3.  City 
Supervision.     4.  County  Supervision. 

VIIL  The  Preparation  of  Teachers.        ■.        .  .117 

1.  Educational  Associations.  2.  Institutes.  3.  Nor- 
mal Schools.  * 

IX.  The  Preparation  of  Teachers  {continued)      .        .        .  142 
4.  Pedagogical   Training  in  Colleges.      6.   Educational 
Literature. 

X.  Recent  Colleges 168 

A.   The  Curriculum. 

1.  The  Physical  Sciences.  2.  Modern  Language 
Studies.  8.  Institutional  History.  4.  Economic 
Studies. 

XI.   Recent  Colleges  {continued) 186 

A.  The  Curriculum  (conti7iued)       .... 

5.  Elective  Courses  and  Studies.  6.  Graduate 
Courses. 

B.  University  Organization. 

1.  State-established  Colleges.  2.  Privately  Endowed 
Institutions. 

XIL  The  Professions 209 

1.  Theological  Education.  2.  Legal  Education.  3.  Med- 
ical Education. 

XHI.   Technological  Education 221 

1.  The  Beginnings  of  Industrial  Training.  2.  The  Cur- 
riculum. 3.  Agricultural  Education.  4.  Military 
und  Naval  Education. 


CONTENTS.  XV 

CHAP.  PAOB 

XIV.  Education  of  Unfortunates  and  Criminal  Classes         .  243 
1.  Deaf-Mute  Education.      2.    Education  of  the  Blind. 
3.   Education  of  the  Feeble-Minded.     4.   Reforma- 
tories.     5.    Indian    Education.      6.    Education    in 
Alaska. 

XV.     ScrPLEMENTAHY    INSTITUTIONS 264 

1.  Private  Schools.  2,  Denominational  Schools.  3.  Even- 
ing Schools.  4.  Museums  of  Art;  and  Science.  5. 
Clubs  and  Circles. 

XVI.   Learned  Societies  and  Libraries 285 

1.  General  Societies.     2.  Libraries. 

XVII.   The  General  Government  and  Education       .        .        .  SOT 
1.  The  Bureau  of  Education.     2.  The  Smithsonian  Insti- 
tution.   3.  Special  Scientific  Work.    4.  Special  Pub- 
lications. 

PART  IV.    CURRENT  EDUCATIONAL  INTERESTS. 
XVIII.   Compulsory  School  Attendance 326 

XIX.   The  Gradation  of  Schools 331 

1.  Primary  Schools.  2.  The  Kindergarten.  3.  The 
High  School. 

XX.  Education  in  the  South 347 

1 .  The  Ante-war  Period.  2.  The  Period  of  Reorganization. 
A.  The  Freedmen's  Aid  Society,  b.  Government 
Agency,  c.  Denominational  Agencies,  d.  The 
Peabody  Fund.  e.  The  Slater  Fund.  f.  Public- 
School  Systems,  g.  Normal  Schools,  h.  Col- 
leges. I.  Professional  Schools. 
3.  General  Conditions. 

XXI.   The  Higher  Education  of  Women 362 

1.  Ladies'  Seminaries.  2.  Colleges  for  Women.  3.  Co- 
education of  the  Sexes  in  College.  4.  Examinations 
and  Annexes.  5.  Association  of  Collegiate  Alumnae. 
6.  The  Professional  Education  of  Women. 

Conclusion 382 


EDUCATION 
IN   THE   UNITED    STATES. 


INTRODUCTION. 

Of  the  underlying  notion  of  the  colonists  who  instituted 
the  American  school  system,  Dr.  D.  C.  Oilman  has  asked:* 
"  How  far  was  it  a  natural  evolution  from  the  social  usages 
and  laws  of  England  ?    How  far  from  those  of  Holland  ? " 

For  an  answer  to  this  query,  one  of  which  Lieber  says 
"  it  must  be  of  interest  to  every  American,"  the  future  gives 
continually  less  of  promise.  Every  day  loses  something  of 
record.  The  question  remains.  It  recurs  perennially.  It 
must  be  asked  by  every  thoughtful  mind.  Every  day's  ex- 
perience enforces  the  belief  that  no  life  is  dissociated  from 
its  past — of  government  or  man.  Whence,  then,  the  Ameri- 
can idea  of  control,  of  society,  and  the  family  ?  of  educa- 
tion and  industry  ?  of  place  and  character  ?  For  these  are 
the  flower  of  culture  for  which  institutions  exist.  Of  whom 
and  where  were  learned  the  lessons  of  self-mastery  and  direc- 
tion, of  distributed  sovereignty  and  co-operation  ?  For  these 
make  a  general  education,  not  so  much  possible,  as  safe. 
They  can  not  be  supposed  wholly  unknown  to  Puritan  and 
Huguenot  Europe ;  and  yet  the  want  of  them  has  made  her 
the  battle-ground  of  the  centuries. 

*  "Education  in  America,"  D.  C.  Gilman,  "  North  American  Review," 
January,  1876. 


2  EDUCATION  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

"Puritan"  and  "Huguenot,"  "Saracen"  and  "Protest- 
ant"— the  very  names  recall  the  birth  in  Europe,  of  the 
impulse  whose  developments  in  the  newer  West  have  out- 
stripped the  best  in  the  Old  World.  They  mean  what  mod- 
em dissent  and  the  independence  of  a  growing  individual- 
ism have  led  us  to  understand  by  them.  They  mean  mod- 
ernism wherever  found — in  institutions  or  the  personal  life, 
in  education  or  industry. 

Mr.  Eugene  Lawrence  says :  "  The  true  parent  of  the  cur- 
rent system  of  teaching  was  the  Reformation."  It  was  the 
world's  recoil  from  authority ;  the  renunciation  of  servitude ; 
the  assumption  of  personality.  Protestantism  meant,  not  so 
much  independence,  as  a  growing  fitness  for  independence. 
We  have  learned  to  think  of  the  race,  in  every  period,  as 
growing  toward  its  manhood ;  and  America  is  a  step  in  that 
growth,  a  phase  of  race-development ;  a  long  stride  may  be — 
Americans  believe  it  is.  Horace  Mann  insisted,  and  his  life 
enforced  the  thought,  that  "  the  transference  of  the  fortunes 
of  our  race  from  the  Old  to  the  New  World  was  a  gain  to  hu- 
manity of  a  thousand  years."  It  was  the  opinion  of  Froebel, 
to  which  he  gave  frequent  expression,  that "  the  Kindergarten 
could  only  have  its  full  development  in  America,  where  the 
national  principle  is  self-government ;  in  perfect  freedom, 
but  according  to  law." 

Here  were  to  be  found  the  more  favorable  conditions,  free- 
dom from  established  customs  and  precedents,  and  an  ab- 
sence of  fixed  public  institutions,  giving  room  to  invention, 
a  field  for  new  and,  in  the  light  of  a  larger  independence, 
more  rational  adventure. 

The  period  itself  (seventeenth  century)  was  one  of  vigor- 
ous social  and  intellectual  activity.  The  invention  of  print- 
ing, and  the  consequent  and  rapid  multiplication  of  books — 
equally  multiplying  the  resources  and  occasions  of  mental 
culture — were  more  than  paralleled  by  the  coincident  in- 
crease in  the  facilities  of  commerce,  the  extension  of  geo- 
graphical discoveries,  the  increase  not  less  than  the  diffusion 
of  physical  knowledge,  and  the  expansion  of  industries.    It 


INTRODUCTION".  3 

was  a  period  in  whose  activity  every  people  and  every  sort 
of  human  interest  more  or  less  participated.  Society  became 
eclectic.  The  past  was  studied  and  drawn  upon  for  its  wis- 
dom. Nations  began  to  take  note  of  their  neighbors.  Gov- 
ernments were  remodeled.  New  inventories  were  taken,  and 
men  came  to  read  history  with  a  new  purpose.  In  the  awak- 
ening education  shared  richly. 

"  The  idea  that  education  must  be  coextensive  with  sov- 
ereignty," says  Dr.  E.  E.  White,  "  was  not  original  with  our 
fathers.  This  has  been,"  he  continues,  "the  favorite  doc- 
trine of  aristocracy  the  world  over  "  ;  and  "  despotism  clam- 
ors for  a  restricted  education,  because  she  would  have  a  re- 
stricted sovereignty."  That  control  should  be  intelligent  is 
older  than  Plato,  and  is  denied  by  no  people. 

In  the  Zealand  school  law  of  1583,  education  is  insisted 
upon  because  "it  is  the  foundation  of  the  commonwealth." 
And  Charlemagne,  eight  centuries  before,  had  required  that 
the  children  of  all  persons  participating  in  the  government 
should  be  educated,  "in  order  that  intelligence  might  rule 
the  empire." 

Nor  is  the  idea  of  universal  freedom  less  ancient  or  more 
Western  in  its  origin.  It  has  been  the  inspiration  of  poet 
and  statesman  ;  the  dream  of  Roman  gladiator  and  Greek 
slave  ;  of  Israelitish  brick-maker  and  Russian  serf.  The 
idea  of  local  self-government  was  already  historical  at  the 
time  of  the  colonization  of  North  America.  Among  the 
Germanic  ancestors  of  the  colonists,  the  custom  was  so  gen- 
eral for  the  inhabitants  of  a  district  to  control  their  local 
affairs, that  it  has  been  said  :  "One  leading  principle  pervaded 
the  primeval  polity  of  the  Goths  ;  where  the  law  was  admin- 
istered, the  law  was  made."  * 

In  ancient  England,  local  self-government  was  found 
along  with  the  common  political  and  territorial  division  of 
tithings,  hundreds,  burghs,  counties,  and  shires,  in  which  the 
body  of  the  inhabitants  had  a  voice  in  managing  their  own 

*  Frothingham's,  "  The  Kepublic  of  the  United  States,"  p.  14 


4  EDUCATION  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

affairs.  Local  self-government  was  the  germinal  idea  of 
Anglo-Saxon  polity. 

So  is  the  notion  of  universal  education  common  to  all 
philosophy.  That  it  is  yet  to  be  realized,  only  emphasizes 
the  aspiration. 

John  of  Nassau,  in  the  sixteenth  century,  urged  upon  the 
States-General  that  they  should  "  establish  free  schools  where 
children  of  quality  as  well  as  of  poor  families,  for  a  very 
small  sum,  could  be  well  and  Christianly  educated  and 
brought  up."  He  saw  the  fruitfulness  of  a  wise  and  state- 
administered  system  of  universal  education.  This  he  said 
to  his  subjects  "  would  be  the  greatest  and  most  useful  work 
you  could  ever  accomplish,  for  Grod  and  Christianity,  and  for 
the  Netherlands  as  well."  ♦ 

In  the  middle  of  the  tenth  century,  the  Arabian  Caliph 
Alhakim,  at  Cordova,  besides  schools  in  every  village,  estab- 
lished twenty-seven  others  at  his  own  expense,  where  the 
children  of  indigent  parents  were  instructed  free  of  charge. 
Prior  to  this  even,  Abderrahman  I.  had  established,  in  addi- 
tion to  the  usual  agencies,  high-schools  for  girls,  taught  by 
female  teachers.  The  expulsion  of  the  Jews,  the  effects  of 
the  Inquisition,  and  the  limited  opportunities  and  means  of 
education,  prevented  the  influence  of  this  early  Arabian 
learning  from  being  immediately  felt  in  the  colonies  of  the 
early  Spanish  explorers. t 

The  very  barbarism  of  the  uninstructed  but  self-depend- 
ent Saxons  and  Germans  attracted  Alfred  and  Charlemagne, 
and  schools  and  universities  attest  the  faithfulness  of  their 
service. 

Charles  X  and  Gustavus  Adolphus  did  for  Sweden  and 
their  generations  what  America,  with  all  her  achievement, 
has  failed  to  do  since — made  education  so  common  that  in 


•  Motley's,  "  Rise  of  the  Dutch  Republic." 

t  See,  in  the  "  Report  of  the  United  States  Conunissioner  of  Education," 
a  collection  of  facts  relative  to  the  Old  World  early  ideas  of  education, 
1875,  p.  13.    Also  "  Circular  of  Information,"  No.  1—1873. 


INTRODUCTION.  5 

the  year  1637  (the  year  of  the  founding  of  Harvard)  "  not  a 
single  peasant's  child  was  unable  to  read  and  write."  * 

In  the  previous  century,  under  William,  Holland,  having 
founded  the  universities  of  Leyden  and  Frankfort,  supple- 
mented them  by  Latin  or  "great  schools,"  and  lower,  or 
public,  or  "  small  schools,"  for  the  elementary  traihing. 
Fixed  salaries  were  paid  to  such  as,  by  an  examination  before 
the  magistrates,  had  shown  their  competency.  Following 
the  Union  of  Utrecht  (1579),  it  was  ordered  that  "  the  inhab- 
itants of  towns  and  villages  should,  within  six  weeks,  find 
good  and  competent  schoolmasters."  Two  years  later,  it  was 
further  provided  that  "such  as  neglected  to  do  this  should 
be  bound  to  receive  the  schoolmasters  sent  to  them,"  and 
provide  the  usual  compensation.!  In  the  year  1618  the  Synod 
of  the  Protestant  Episcopal  Dutch  Church  of  Dort  urged 
that  schools  be  instituted,  "  not  only  in  cities,  but  in  towns 
and  country  places."  So  common  was  the  impulse,  it  is 
said,  that  "  neither  the  perils  of  war,  nor  the  busy  pursuit  of 
gain,  nor  the  excitement  of  xiolitical  strife,  ever  caused  them 
to  neglect  the  duty  of  educating  their  offspring.  Schools 
were  everywhere  provided  at  the  public  expense,  with  good 
schoolmasters  to  instruct  the  children  of  all  classes  in  the 
usual  branches  of  education."  J 

Motley,  the  historian,  is  authority  for  the  statement* 
that  in  1635  the  Latin  school  at  Dordrecht  had  been  in  ex- 
istence for  some  centuries,  ||  and  was  one  of  the  most  famous 
institutions  of  Northwestern  Europe.  It  frequently  instructed 
six  hundred  students  brought  from  all  parts  of  the  conti- 
nent. It  was  a  training-school  for  a  nation  of  merchants, 
and,  though  classical,  was  eminently  practical  as  fitted  to 
the  social  conditions.   "  The  one  linguistic  need  of  the  boys," 

*  Schmidt's  "  Geschichte  der  Erziehung." 

+  Compare  this  provision  witli  that  of  the  Massachusetts  law  of  1G42, 
p.  16. 

X  Broadhead's  "History  of  New  York,"  vol.  i,  p.  4G2. 
«  See  his  "  John  De  Witt,"  p.  35. 
1  Founded  about  1290. 


6  EDUCATION  IN  THE  UNITED  STATEa 

said  Motley,  "was  instruction  in  Latin  and  French.  No 
progress  in  public  life  was  possible  without  a  knowledge  of 
these  tongues."* 

Mr.  Motley  concludes  that  the  New  England  colonists 
gained  their  educational  impulse  more  from  the  Netherlands 
than  from  their  own  country.  And  a  recent  writer,t  after 
asserting  that  the  influence  of  the  Dutch  in  shaping  our  edu- 
cational life  has  not  been  enough  regarded,  says :  "  Our  free 
public-school  system  of  which  we  are  justly  so  proud  seems 
to  have  its  beginnings  distinctly  traceable  to  the  earliest  life 
of  the  Dutch  colonies  here  in  America,  and  to  have  had  its 
prototype  in  the  free  schools  in  which  Holland  had  led  the 
van  of  the  world." 

It  was  a  favorite  doctrine  of  the  protesting  Luther  that 
every  child  was  worthy  to  have  the  best  education — lan- 
guages, history,  music,  mathematics  —  everything  that  can 
contribute  to  his  highest  development.  And  in  a  "  Letter  to 
Magistrates"  (1524),  after  recounting  the  advantages  to  the 
Church  and  to  the  religious  life  of  the  individual,  he  insists 
that,  "  if  there  were  no  soul,  no  heaven,  no  future  after  this 
life,  and  temporal  affairs  were  to  be  administered  solely  with 
a  view  to  the  present,  it  would  yet  be  a  sufficient  reason  for 
establishing  in  every  place  the  best  schools,  both  for  boys 
and  girls ;  that  the  world,  merely  to  maintain  its  outward 
prosperity,  has  need  of  shrewd  and  accomplished  men  and 
women."  Taking  the  sentiment  as  typical  of  a  national 
idea,  Hon.  Henry  Barnard  speaks  of  the  "  common  school " 
as  "  only  an  improvement  on  the  parochial  schools  of  Ger- 
many." X 

Once  more  :  John  Calvin,  at  Geneva,  in  the  sixteenth 
century,  made  education,  so  far  as  he  might,  obligatory  upon 
all ;  and,  to-day,  the  thrifty  cantons  of  Switzerland  enjoy 

*  It  would  aeem  as  if  the  founders  of  the  Boston  Latin  School  adopted 
the  fonu  of  this,  without  the  social  demand  (see  p.  338). 

t  H.  B.  Adams,  in  "  Johns  Hopkins  Studies  in  History,"  series  iii, 
p.  15. 

X  "  American  Journal  of  Education,"  vol.  .\,  p.  32. 


INTRODUCTION.  Y 

the  beneficent  influences  of  a  law  of  whose  significance  the 
author  little  dreamed.  Tracing  the  growth  of  this  impulse, 
George  Bancroft  says  :  "  The  common-school  system  was  de- 
rived from  Geneva,  the  work  of  John  Calvin  ;  introduced  by 
Luther  into  Germany  ;  by  John  Klnox  into  Scotland  ;  and  so 
became  the  property  of  the  English-speaking  nation."* 

So  instances  of  old  ideas  clustering  about  this  common 
sovereignty  and  universal  education  might  be  cited  indefi- 
nitely. No  stronger  word,  however,  has  been  said  in  the  in- 
terests of  the  latter,  and  the  enforcement  of  school  provisions 
and  attendance,  than  by  Plato,  in  his  "  Laws."  Indeed, 
throughout  both  this  and  the  "  Eepublic,"  one  frequently 
falls  upon  ideas  peculiarly  modern,  and  especially  so  of  edu- 
cation. 

In  the  "  Laws,"  as  a  part  of  a  discussion  on  schools  and 
their  impoi-tance  to  the  state,  the  Athenian  stranger  is  made 
to  say  :  "  In  these  several  schools  let  there  be  dwellings  for 
teachers  who  shall  be  brought  from  foreign  parts  by  pay  ; 
and  let  the  frequenters  [learners]  be  taught  the  art  of  war, 
and  the  art  of  music  ;  and  they  shall  come,  not  only  if  their 
parents  please,  but  if  they  do  not  please  ;  and,  if  then  educa- 
tion be  neglected,  there  shall  be  compulsory  education,  of  all 
and  sundry,  as  the  saying  is,  so  far  as  this  is  possible  ;  and 
the  pupils  shall  be  regarded  as  belonging  to  the  state  rather 
than  to  their  parents."  t 

That  these  sentiments  can  not  be  more  definitely  derived, 
only  marks  their  universality.  They  form  a  kind  of  ideal  of 
civilization  ;  and  the  problem  that  the  states  were  set  to 
solve  had  been  a  long-established  theory  of  thinkers  and 
statesmen.  The  English,  as  the  later  bom  of  European  na- 
tions, was  the  heir  of  all  the  East ;  and  among  the  early  colo- 
nists to  this  country  were  specimens  of  both  individuals  and 
families  from  the  highest  level  of  English  thought.    There 

*  "  History  of  the  United  States,"  vol.  iii.,  p.  100. 

+  "Laws"  (Jowett's  translation),  book  vii,  p.  732.  A  presentation  of 
Plato's  "Theory  of  Education"  appeared  in  the  "Presbyterian  Review" 
for  July,  1887,  by  Prof.  J.  Watson. 


8  EDUCATION  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

were  English  Churchmen  in  Virginia,  English  Puritans  in 
Massachusetts,  English  Catholics  in  Maryland,  and  English 
Quakers  in  Pennsylvania.  And,  not  ignoring  the  early  edu- 
cational attitude  of  Dutch  and  Swede,  Spanish  Saracen  and 
modem  GK?rman,  the  united  colonies  were  founded  and 
school  systems  organized  by  somewhat  homogeneous  foi"ces 
— a  people  of  common  stock,  having  common  political  in- 
stincts, and  with  the  tradition  of  common  institutions.  In 
England  they  sprang  from  a  superior  class  :  a  rank  that  pro- 
duced Milton  and  Sir  Walter  Raleigh  and  Locke;  Hampden 
and  Cromwell ;  Carver,  Eaton,  and  Winthrop  ;  Robinson, 
Cotton,  and  Davenport.  Of  the  first  six  hundred  who  landed 
in  Massachusetts,  one  in  thirty,  it  is  said,  was  a  graduate  of 
the  English  Cambridge.  These  and  their  companions  were 
rare  men.  They  had  the  schooling  for  a  service  the  like  of 
whose  execution,  in  completeness  and  good  sense,  the  world 
has  never  equaled.* 

"  With  matchless  wisdom  they  joined  liberty  and  learn- 
ing in  a  perpetual  and  holy  alliance,  binding  the  latter  to 
bless  every  child  with  instruction,  which  the  former  invests 
with  the  rights  and  duties  of  citizenship.  They  made  edu- 
cation and  sovereignty  coextensive,  by  making  both  uni- 
versal." t 

*  Two  interesting  papers  were  published  some  yeare  ago :  the  one  in 
1859,  "  The  American  System  of  Education,"  by  Dr.  E.  0.  Haven ;  and  the 
other  the  "  Common  School  Historically  " — a  most  valuable  summary  made 
in  1873,  by  Prof.  David  Putnam,  and  read  before  the  Ohio  Teachers'  Asso- 
ciation.   Both  are  well  worth  reading  on  this  point. 

t  E.  E.  White,  "  Proceedings  of  National  Education  Association,"  1882. 


PART  FIRST. 
THE   COLONIAL  PERIOD. 


CHAPTER  I. 

THE  EARLIEST  AMERICAN  SCHOOLS. 

In  a  prefatory  note  to  a  recent  oration,  the  Rev.  Phillips 
Brooks  records  that  "  the  Public  Latin  School  of  Boston  en- 
joys the  distinction  of  being  the  oldest  existing  school  within 
the  bounds  of  the  United  States."  *  -^ 

As  frequently  happens  of  sweeping  statements  concern- 
ing "  first  events  "  and  "  oldest  institutions,"  this  one  of  Dr. 
Brooks  seems  questionable.  A  similar  claim  has  been  made 
for  Dorchester,  Hartford,  Brooklyn,  and  Virginia.  Indeed, 
it  is  known  that  various  schools  had  been  established  prior 
to  that  in  Boston,  one  of  which,  the  school  of  the  Reformed 
Dutch  Church  in  New  York,  founded  as  early  as  1633,  con- 
tinues to  the  present. 

Those  in  Virginia,  though  established  earlier,  had  gener- 
ally a  short  existence.  Schools  in  the  three  sections  f  were 
very  unlike,  and  were  typical  of  very  dissimilar  institutions. 

1.  The  New  York  Settlements. 

The  Dutch  West  India  Company,  organized  in  1621,  re- 
ceived, nine  years  after,  instructions  from  the  States-General 

*  Founded  1635.  t  New  England,  New  York,  and  Virginia. 


10  THE  COLONIAL  PERIOD. 

of  Holland,  among  which  occurred  the  following  order,  "  to 
all  founders  of  colonies  " :  Patroons  should  particularly  exert 
themselves  "  to  find  speedy  means  to  maintain  a  clergyman 
and  a  schoolmaster,  in  order  that  divine  service  and  zeal  for 
religion  may  he  planted  in  that  country."*  And  it  was  re- 
quired that  to  this  end  "  each  householder  and  inhabitant 
should  bear  such  tax  and  public  charge  as  should  be  consid- 
ered proper  for  their  maintenance." 

Four  years  later,  in  an  official  estinM,te  of  the  company's 
expenses,  the  schoolmaster  is  entered  at  three  hundred  and 
sixty  florins  per  annum  (just  one  fourth  that  of  the  clergy- 
man), t  Under  these  provisions,  the  educational  policy  of 
New  Amsterdam  was  unbroken,  and  for  many  years  more 
or  less  uniform.  The  second  Director-Greneral  of  the  new 
province  was  Wouter  Van  Twiller,  who  arrived  at  Manhat- 
tan in  the  year  1633,  and  with  him  Adam  Roelandsen,  the 
first  schoolmaster.  The  latter  remained  nine  years.  With 
the  advent  of  the  new  administration,  the  first  school-tax 
was  levied,  fotir  pounds  being  collected.  This  would  seem 
to  give  color  to  Brooklyn's  claim  to  have  had  the  first  free 
public  school  in  the  United  States. f 

Corel  de  Beauvois,  a  recent  arrival  from  Holland,  was 
called  to  take  charge  of  the  school ;  adding  to  his  duties  as 
instructor  those  of  grave-digger,  court  bell-ringer,  and  pre- 
centor. During  this  period,  and  for  many  years  thereafter, 
indeed  until  1808,  when  a  special  board  of  trustees  was  ap- 
pointed, this  school,  both  for  support  and  management,  was 
in  the  hands  of  the  local  congregation  of  the  Protestant  Re- 
formed Dutch  Church.  It  was  perhaps  only  an  elementary 
parochial  school,  receiving  now  and  then  aid  from  the  public 
treasury,  and,  while  controlled  by  the  Church,  was  maintained 


*  '*  Colonial  History  of  New  York,"  vol.  i,  p.  99.  These  volumes  are 
valuable  not  alone  for  New  York,  but  for  all  the  early  colonies. 

+  Ibid.,  p.  155. 

X  See  article  "  Brooklyn  "  in  Kiddle  and  Schemes  "  Cyclopaedia  of  Edu- 
cation." 


THE   EARLIEST   AMERICAN   SCHOOLS.  H 

for  the  use  of  the  general  public.  From  its  founding  it 
has  a  continuous  history,*  through  a  long  line  of  teachers, 
legislative  and  ecclesiastical  provisions,  and  educational 
progress. 

Though  Stuy  vesant  wrote  in  1642,  "  Nothing  is  of  greater 
importance  than  the  right,  early  instiniction  of  youth,"  no 
care  seems  to  have  been  shown  for  more  than  the  rudiments, 
including,  besides  reading,  writing,  and  arithmetic,  the  doc- 
trines of  the  Church,t  and  the  fundamental "  Freedoms,  Priv- 
ileges, and  Exemptions,"  granted  to  the  colonists,  through 
the  West  India  Company.  J 

But  in  the  year  1658,  while  yet  Stuyvesant  was  Directoi', 
the  burgomasters  petitioned  "  for  a  fit  person  as  Latin  School- 
master, not  doubting  that  the  number  of  persons  who  will 
send  their  children  to  such  teacher  will,  from  year  to  year, 
increase,  until  an  Academy  will  be  formed,  whereby  this 
place  to  great  splendor  will  have  attained."  The  petition 
was  granted,  and  the  first  classical  school  was  instituted — 
nearly  a  quarter  of  a  century  after  the  founding  of  the  Bos- 
ton Latin  School.  The  first  principal  was  one  Dr.  Alexan- 
der Carolus — a  professional  teacher — who  was  paid  out  of 
the  public  treasury  five  hundred  guilders  ($187.50)  annually, 
was  given  the  use  of  a  house  and  garden,  received  six  guild- 
ers from  each  scholar,  and  was  privileged,  in  addition,  to 
practice  medicine  ! 

During  this  early  period,  from  the  first,  teachers,  whether 
of  private,  parish,  or  public  schools,  were  subjected  to  an 
established  and  formal  examination  ;  and,  while  licensed  by 
the  council  of  '"  nine  men,"  must  be  sanctioned  by  the  dea- 
cons of  the  Church. 

*  This  has  been  well  and  fully  written  by  H.  W.  Dunshee,  in  "  A  His- 
tory of  the  School  of  the  Reformed  Protestant  Church  in  New  York." 

+  It  was  ordered  (see  "New  York  Colonial  MSS.,"  edited  by  George 
Bancroft)  that "  no  other  religion  should  be  publicly  admitted  in  New  Neth- 
erland,  except  the  Reformed,  as  it  was  then  preached  and  practiced  by  pub- 
lic authority  in  the  United  Netherlands." 

X  Dunshee,  p.  51. 


12  THE  COLONIAL  PERIOD. 

Besides  Roelaiidsen  and  Comelison,  of  elementary  teach- 
ers, there  were  others.  Mr.  Dunshee,  the  historian  of  tlie 
school,  speaks  of  certain  private  schools,  of  Jan  Stevenson 
and  Aryaen  Jansen,  and  "  other  teachers  in  hii*ed  houses," 
prior  to  1649.  By  the  middle  of  the  century,  New  Amster- 
dam had  a  population  of  eight  hundred.  This  was  doubled 
in  the  next  decade,  and,  by  the  close  of  Stuyvesant's  adminis- 
tration, fifteen  teachers  are  recorded  as  having  served  in  the 
settlement,  some  of  them  with  long  terms.  As  early  as  1650 
they  were  paid  regularly  out  of  the  public  treasury;  the  ex- 
cise money  beipg  set  apart  for  this  purpose.  The  pay  there 
as  elsewhere,  then  and  since,  was  probably  poor  enough ;  for 
a  few  years  later  one  William  Vestens  headed  the  long  line 
of  petitioners  for  "an  increase  of  salary."* 

2.  Virginia  and  the  Virginia  Company. 

Even  prior  to  New  Amsterdam  and  Boston,  the  needs  of 
education  were  being  considered  by  the  older  colony  of  Vir- 
ginia. These  also  were  an  earnest  body  of  men.  In  1619 
Sir  Edwan  Sandys,  treasurer  to  the  London  Company, 
moved  in  the  English  Parliament,  the  grant  of  fifteen  thou- 

*  It  has  frequently  happened  that  the  services  performed  and  the  wages 
received  by  the  common-school  teacher  have  been  sadly  disproportioned. 
Concerning  the  former  it  is  interesting  to  note  the  functions  of  the  teacher 
in  the  early  colonial  period.  He  was  usually,  both  in  New  England  and 
the  middle  colonies,  clerk  of  the  town,  chorister  of  the  church,  and  official 
visitor  of  the  sick.  Indeed,  far  into  the  last  century,  the  teacher  was  scarcely 
differentiated  from  the  preacher.  The  Rev.  Gideon  Sheets,  when  engaged 
as  minister  at  Rensselaerwick,  New  York,  was  required  among  other  duties 
"  to  bring  up  both  the  heathens  and  their  children  in  the  Christian  relig- 
ion; to  teach  the  catechism;  and  to  pay  attention  also  to  the  office  of 
schoolmaster  for  old  and  young."  The  following  extract  from  the  "  Town 
Book,"  indicates  the  manifold  duties  of  a  New  England  schoolmaster  of 
1661:  1.  To  act  as  court-messenger;  2.  To  serve  summonses;  8.  To  con- 
duct certain  ceremonial  services  of  the  church ;  4.  To  lead  the  Sunday 
choir ;  5.  To  ring  the  bell  for  public  worship ;  6.  To  dig  the  graves ;  7.  To 
take  charge  of  the  school ;  8.  To  perform  other  occasional  duties. 

Adam  Roelandsen  not  only  taught  the  youth,  but  took  in  washing  also  1 


THE  EARLIEST  AMERICAN  SCHOOLS.  13 

sand  acres  of  land  for  a  university.  It  was  to  be  a  great 
Episcopal  college — a  preparatory  school  to  English  learning 
and  English  religion.  The  grant  was  made.  The  king  ap- 
pealed to  the  churches  for  contributions.  Interest  was 
aroused.  Schools  as  well  as  a  college  were  projected.  Fif- 
teen hundred  pounds  were  contributed  "  toward  the  erect- 
ing of  some  chui'ches  and  some  schools  for  the  education 
of  the  children  of  those  barbarians."  Two  years  later,  upon 
the  arrival  of  the  Royal  James,  a  subscription  was  opened 
by  the  chaplain,  Rev.  Mr.  Copeland,  for  the  erection  of  a 
free  school.  The  company  gave  "one  thousand  acres  of 
land,  five  servants,  and  an  overseer,  for  the  maintenance  of 
a  master  and  an  usher."  *  Toward  the  erection  of  the  house, 
also,  the  company  subscribed  one  hundred  pounds,  to  which 
were  afterward  added  other  small  amounts  of  money,  and 
a  few  books.  About  the  same  time  (1621)  two  English  crews 
gave  nearly  sixty-seven  pounds ;  f  and  the  year  following  a 
bequest  of  three  hundi'ed  pounds  was  left  to  the  proposed 
college.  Matters  were  promising.  Affairs,  educational 
and  commercial,  were  shaping  themselves  to  the  profit  of 
both  the  company  and  the  settlers.  School  and  college  were 
in  sight ;  buildings  and  land  had  been  provided.  But  the 
terrible  Indian  war  of  1622  came  on.  Settlements  were  laid 
waste,  houses  and  property  destroyed,  and  lives  lost.  Edu- 
cation was  out  of  the  question ;  rather,  the  education  most 
needed  was  that  of  arms  and  self-defense.  Neither  school 
nor  college,  however,  was  forgotten.  Immediately  steps 
were  taken  to  increase  the  funds  and  replace  the  buildings. 
Collections  were  made  throughout  the  kingdom,  in  English 
factories,  and  on  board  ships.  But  the  summer  following,  it 
was  ordered  that  "all  the  moneys  collected  be  deposited, 
until  the  plantation  he  so  settled  as  there  may  be  use  of  a 
school  there.^^  I 

*  E.  D.  Neill,  "  Virginia  Company  of  London,"  p.  211. 
+  Warren  and  Clark.  "  Public  Libraries  of  the  United  States,"  p.  22. 
X  "  Virginia  Vetusta,"  Neill,  p.  180. 
2 


14  THE  COLONUL  PERIOD. 

In  the  Bermuda  (Somers)  Islands  thei-e  was  already  a 
considei-able  population — some  five  thousand  inhabitants — 
and  a  school  regularly  established.  The  bequest  (three 
hundred  pounds)  noted  above,  failing  of  its  purpose  be- 
cause of  the  Indian  massacre,  was  turned  (1622)  to  the 
Somers  Island  Company,  on  condition  that  they  "  educate 
three  Virginia  Indian  children,  and,  when  they  were  of 
proper  age,  put  them  into  business  or  send  them  back  to  con- 
vert their  relations."  The  Bermuda  school,  both  then  and 
later,  had  a  reputation  on  two  continents,  and  claimed  tlie 
thought  of  the  philosopher  Berkeley,  who  sought  to  found 
a  college  there.  Richard  Norwood,  writing  from  the  island 
(1645),  stated  that  he  had  been  teaching  in  that  place  for 
thirty  years,  and  at  that  time  had  twenty  pupils.* 

That  on  the  continent  also  the  efforts  stand  as  something 
more  than  vain  attempts,  appears  from  an  extract  made  from 
a  thoi'oughly  entertaining  description  of  Virginia,  1649, 
The  writer  says :  ''  I  may  not  forget  to  tell  you  we  have  a 
free  school,  with  two  hundred  acres  of  land,  a  fine  house  up- 
on it,  forty  milch  kine,  and  other  accommodations  to  it; 
the  benefactor  deserves  perpetual  memory;  his  name  is 
Mr.  Benjamin  Symmes,  worthy  to  be  cherished.  Other 
petty  schools  we  have  too."  f 

S.  Early  New  England  Schools. 

On  the  13th  of  April,  1635,  the  people  of  Boston,  in  town- 
meeting  assembled,  impressed  not  less  with  their  need  of 
schools  than  with  their  appreciation  of  education  in  general, 
requested  "Brother  Philemon  Purmont  to  become  school- 
master, for  the  teaching  and  nourteuring  of  children  "  in  the 
town.    In  part  pay  for  his  services,  thirty  acres  of  land  were 

*  It  was  here  that  Bishop  Berkeley  proposed  founding  his  college,  and 
in  anticipation  of  which  he  spent  some  years  at  Newport,  R.  I.  For  further 
notice  of  the  schools  of  the  island,  see  Neill's  "  Virginia  Company  of  Lon- 
don," p.  214. 

t  "Massachusetts  Historical  Collections,"  voL  zix,  p.  119. 


THE  EARLIEST  AMERICAN  SCHOOLS.  15 

voted  him  by  the  young  colony.  Almost  immediately  "  a 
garden  plot  was  voted  to  Mr.  Danyell  Maude,  schoolmaster," 
also.  Both  of  these  occurred  within  less  than  a  year  from  th^ 
founding  of  the  town.  John  Winthrop,  writing,  1645,  said : 
"  Divers  free  schools  were  erected  at  Roxbury  (for  the  main- 
tenance whereof  every  inhabitant  bound  some  house  or  land 
for  a  yearly  allowance  forever),  and  at  Boston,  where  they 
made  an  order  to  allow  forever  fifty  pounds  to  the  master, 
and  an  house,  and  thirty  pounds  to  an  usher  who  should 
also  teach  to  read,  write,  and  cipher.  Indian  children  were 
to  be  taught  freely.  The  charge  to  be  by  yearly  contribu- 
tion, either  by  voluntary  allowance,  or  by  rate  of  such  as 
refused;  the  order  being  confirmed  by  the  General  Court." 

Sixteen  years  before,  wild  and  warlike  natives  alone  stood 
between  Virginia  and  the  proposed  Charles  City  school  and 
Henrico  College ;  three  years  before,  the  infant  school  of  the 
Reformed  Church  was  beginning  its  long  career.  Looking 
back  upon  these  events,  it  is  easy  to  see  that  they  were  big 
with  promise  of  the  marvelous  achievements  of  the  first  half 
of  that  great  seventeenth  century,  destined  to  do  so  much  for 
liberty  and  intelligence.  These  three  settlements  were  civili- 
zation centers  for  a  continent. 

Little  can  now  be  definitely  known  of  the  first  few  years 
of  the  Boston  school  or  schoolmaster.  They  were  brave, 
and  not  the  less  scholarly  men,  who  were  laying  the  founda- 
tions of  a  new  commonwealth.  Posterity  is  left  to  infer  the 
greatness  of  the  deeds  of  those  years  from  the  outcome. 

Other  Massachusetts  towns  also  showed  a  vigorous  and 
liberal  spirit  of  culture.  Rehoboth  was  set  off  from  Wey- 
mouth as  a  colony  about  1643,  and  the  fifth  man  upon  the 
list  was  a  professional  schoolmaster,  who  taught  the  village 
urchins  twelve  months  in  the  year.  Plymouth  Colony  had 
ordered  schools,  1650;  while,  ten  years  before,  Dorchester 
had  petitioned  for  some  islands  "  for  and  toward  the  main- 
tenance of  a  free  school."*    Ipswich  and  Salem  each,  had 

*"  Records  of  Massacliusetta  Colony,"  vol.  iii,  p.  139. 


IQ  THE  COLONIAL  PERIOD. 

schools  as  early  as  16il,  Cambridge  the  year  following,  and 
Eoxbury  in  1645.* 

♦  In  the  year  1642,  in  an  attempt  to  make  the  privileges  of 
the  few  towns  general,  the  Colonial  Court  enjoined  upon  all 
towns  the  duty  of  seeing  to  it  in  their  localities.  The  order 
is  comprised  in  the  following  extract  from  the  Massachusetts 

law  of  1643:  t 

"This  court,"  so  the  record  runs,  "taking  into  serious 
consideration  the  great  neglect  of  many  parents  and  masters, 
in  training  up  their  children  in  learning  and  labor,  and 
other  employments,  which  may  be  profitable  to  the  common- 
wealth, do  herel)y  order  and  decree,  that  in  every  town,  the 
chosen  men  appointed  to  manage  the  prudential  affairs  of 
the  same,  shall  henceforth  stand  charged  with  the  care  of 
the  redress  of  this  evil ;  so  as  they  shall  be  sufficiently  pun- 
ished by  fines,  for  the  neglect  thereof,  upon  presentment  of 
grand  jury,  or  other  information  of  complaint  in  any  court 
in  this  jurisdiction:  and  for  this  end,  they  or  the  greater 
number  of  them  shall  have  power  to  take  account,  from  time 
to  time,  of  all  parents  and  masters,  and  of  their  children, 
especially  of  their  ability  to  read  and  understand  the  princi- 
ples of  religion  and  the  capital  laws  of  this  country,  and  to 
impose  fines  upon  such  as  shall  refuse  to  render  such  ac- 
cotmt  to  them  when  they  shall  be  required;  and  they  shall 
have  power,  with  the  consent  of  any  court,  or  the  magistrate, 
to  put  forth  apprentices,  the  children  of  such  as  they  shall 
find  not  able  and  fit  to  employ  and  bring  them  up.  They 
are  also  to  provide  that  a  sufficient  quantity  of  materials,  as 
hemp,  flax,  etc.,  may  be  raised  in  their  several  towns,  and 
tools  and  implements  provided  for  working  out  the  same."  | 

*  For  a  history  of  this  school,  with  much  additional  contemporary  mat- 
ter of  interest,  see  C.  K.  DUlaway's  "  History  of  the  School  in  Eoxbury." 

t  Taken  from  the  "  Records  of  the  Massachusetts  Colony,"  vol.  ii,  p.  6. 

X  From  almost  the  be^ning  of  New  England  settlements  it  seems  to 
have  been  common  to  transact  the  current  public  business  in  a  meeting  of 
the  people  assembled.  By  such  body  Mr.  Punnont  was  called  to  be  Boston's 
first  teacher ;  Mr.  Cheever,  in  New  Haven ;  and  Mr.  Lcnthrall,  in  Provi- 


THE  EARLIEST  AMERICAN  SCHOOLS.  17 

What  grave  educational  and  social  questions  were  then 
sprung  hy  the  Boston  fathers,  that  subsequent  generations 
have  had  to  answer!  Parental  responsibility,  the  general 
viciousness  of  indolence,  the  educative,  office  of  labor,  the 
state's  relation  to  individual  need,  compulsory  employment 
and  schooling,  the  function  of  courts,  and  the  state  owner- 
ship of  child-life,  were  all  suggested  by  the  act  quoted.  The 
town — society  in  its  organized  capacity — was  commissioned 
to  secure  to  the  child  its  rights,  and  to  the  community  pro- 
tection. 

The  selectmen  of  every  town  were  further  required  "  to 
have  a  vigilant  eye  over  their  brethren  and  neighbors,  to  see 
that  none  of  them  shall  suffer  so  much  barbarism  in  any  of 
their  families,  as  not  to  endeavor  to  teach,  by  themselves  or 
others,  their  children  and  apprentices,  so  much  learning  as 
may  enable  them  perfectly  to  read  the  English  tongue  and 
[obtain]  a  knowledge  of  the  capital  laws ;  upon  penalty  of 
twenty  shillings  for  each  neglect  therein."* 

"If,  after  admonition,  parents  were  still  neglectful  of 
their  duty  in  these  particulai's,"  children  might  be  taken 
from  their  parents,  and  servants  from  the  custody  of  their 
masters,  and  bound  to  such  masters  as  the  selectmen  might 
deem  worthy  to  supply  the  place  of  "  the  unnatural  parent " 
— boys  until  the  age  of  twenty-one,  and  girls  untU  that  of 
eighteen. 

dence.  In  these  meetings  all  were  freemen,  and  all  equal  in  privileges. 
The  voice  of  each  was  individual  and  stood  for  one  only.  As  early  as  1632, 
however,  twelve  men  of  Dorchester  were  selected  to  meet  statedly,  and  hold 
in  consideration  public  interests.  Two  years  later,  Boston  chose  a  like 
number,  and  Charlestown  the  year  following ;  Watertown,  Newton,  and 
others  soon  did  the  like.  And  Mr.  Palfrey  says  ("History  of  New  Eng- 
land," vol.  i,  p.  372)  that,  "  at  the  fifth  General  Court  of  Massachusetts, 
twenty-four  persons  appeared  delegated  by  eight  towns."  It  was  such  a 
representative  body  of  freemen,  fit  type  of  the  later  administrative  republi- 
canism, that  passed  the  school  act  of  1642,  from  which  the  extracts  are 
taken. 

*  See  Horace  Mann's  comments  upon  this  in  "  Tenth  Report  of  the 
Massachusetts  Board  of  Education,"  1849. 


18  THE  COLONIAL  PERIOD. 

CoTmnenting  upon  this  act  and  the  primitive  Boston  idea 
of  barbarism,  Horace  Mann  was  led  to  say  that,  "  tried  by 
this  standard,  many  a  man  who  now  glories  in  tlie  name 
and  prerogatives  of  a  republican  citizen  would,  according 
to  the  better  ideas  of  the  Pilgrim  Fathers,  be  known  only 
as  the  barbarian  father  of  barbarian  children.''* 

It  would  seem  that  the  first  school  in  Connecticut  was 
at  New  Haven,  during  the  year  1638.  f  Prof.  Gr.  B.  Emerson 
says  Ezekiel  Cheever  left  Boston  with  those  who  founded 
the  settlement,  and  "  began  his  services  as  schoolmaster  in 
that  year  ;  the  pastor,  Mr.  Davenport,  together  with  the 
magistrates,"  according  to  the  records,  being  invited  to  con- 
sider what  yearly  allowance  was  "  meet  to  be  given  him  out 
of  the  common  stock  of  the  town."  Two  years  later  a 
second  and  higher  grade  school  was  established,  and  Mr. 
Cheever,  then  a  young  man  of  twenty-seven,  was  made  its 
principal.  This  also  was  supported,  in  part,  out  of  the 
"  common  stock. " 

Besides  Mr.  Cheever's,  there  were  other  schools  in  New 
Haven.  Care  was  even  then  taken  that  every  child  should 
have  its  just  deserts.  In  a  year  from  the  date  of  settlement, 
one  Tliomas  Fugill  appears  on  the  public  records,  charged 
by  the  court  to  keep  Charles  Higinson,  an  indentured  serv- 
ant or  apprentice,  "  at  school  one  year  ;  or  else  to  advan- 
tage him  as  much  in  his  education  as  a  year's  learning  would 
come  to." 

With  the  exception  of  Mr,  Cheever's  school,  instruction 
was  chiefly  elementary,  comprising  only  reading  and  cipher- 
ing. The  former  was  called  a  grammar-school,  in  which 
were  taught,  besides  the  common  higher  branches,  Latin, 
rhetoric,  grammar,  etc.,  corresponding  nearly  to  the  modem 
high-school,  but  with  relatively  more  of  the  classics. 

The  first  school  appearing  on  the  town  records  of  Hart- 

*  "  Lowell  Institute  Lectures,"  1869,  p.  351.    Also  "  American  Jooma] 
of  Education,"  vol.  i,  p.  297. 
t  Eeport  for  184G. 


THE  EARLIEST  AMERICAN  SCHOOLS.  19 

ford  was  a  somewliat  famous  one  in  that  day,  in  operation 
as  early  as  1641,  and  kept  by  a  not  less  widely  known 
teacher,  Mr.  William  Andrews.  He  was  employed  to  teach 
the  school  for  one  year  (twelve  months)  for  fifteen  pounds ; 
each  patron  to  pay  at  the  rate  of  twenty  shillings  per  year, 
the  poor  being  paid  for  at  the  town's  charge. 

In  Rhode  Island,  Newport  had  a  public  school  in  1640, 
and  Providence  one,  twenty  years  later. 

Throughout  the  colonies,  schools  were  endowed  ;  first 
with  lands,  very  eai'ly  with  bequests,  rents,  and  donations, 
and  supj)lemented  by  taxation.  They  were  not  free.  Tui- 
tion was  paid  for  all.  The  abuse  of  the  principle  is  an 
interesting  historical  study. 

Bibliography. 

Consult  "The  School  of  the  Reformed  Dutch  Church"  of  New 
York,  by  H.  W.  Dunshee,  which  contains  also  pertinent  information  of 
other  schools  and  colonies ;  "  Documents  of  the  Colonial  History  of  New 
York,"  in  eleven  volumes ;  and  manuscripts  of  the  New  York  Historical 
Society;  the  "Virginia  Company  of  London,"  "Virginia  Carolorum," 
and  "Virginia  Vetusta,"  three  volumes,  by  E.  D.  Neill,  comprising 
original  documents  and  records ;  the  "  History  of  Education  in  Rhode 
Island,"  edited  by  T.  B.  Stockwell ;  the  "  Roxbury  Grammar-School,"  by 
C.  K.  Dillaway;  the  "Massachusetts  Historical  Collections,"  and  the 
official  "  Colonial  Records "  of  Plymouth,  New  Hampshire,  Massachu- 
setts, Connecticut,  and  Providence  Colonies.  A  series  of  articles  also  by 
G.  G.  Bush  in  the  "Yale  Review  "  for  1885,  affords  a  general  view  of 
"Early  Education  in  New  England."  In  the  "Atlantic  Monthly  "for 
January,  1885,  is  a  description  of  the  "Dame  School,"  such  as  the  early 
English  colonies  had  a  few  curious  examples  of. 


20  THE  COLONIAL  PERIOD. 

CHAPTER  n. 

COLONIAL  COLLEGES. 

1.  Harvard. 

In  the  autumn  of  the  sixth  year  of  the  settlement  of  Bos- 
ton, the  Greneral  Court  ♦  of  the  colony,  with  a  far-seeing  liber- 
ality, and  a  wisdom  of  sacrifice  such  as  shall  be  for  years  to 
come  a  monument  to  it  and  its  people,  voted  f  the  sum  of 
four  hundred  pounds  "  toward  a  school  or  college  ;  whereof 
two  hundred  pounds  shall  be  paid  the  next  year,  and  two 
hundred  pounds  when  the  work  is  finished,  and  the  next 
Court  to  appoint  where  and  what  building." 

The  following  year  twelve  of  the  most  trusted  men  of  the 
whole  colony,  previoxisly  appointed,  magistrates  and  minis- 
ters, of  political  foresight  and  abundant  learning,  were  set  to 
execute  the  oflBcial  mandate,  "  to  take  order  for  a  College  at 
New  Towne. "  Among  these  early  educational  leaders  were 
such  men  as  the  Rev.  Thomas  Shepard,  John  Cotton,  and  John 
Wilson,  Jr. ;  all  clergymen  and  all  college-bred ;  J  Stoughton ; 
Dudley,  the  Deputy-Governor,  and  above  all  "  Winthrop,  the 
Grovemor,  the  guide  and  the  good  genius  of  the  colony."* 
Such  were  the  men  and  the  sources  of  greatness  of  the  infant 
colony,  and  pledge  of  the  college.  Here  were  learning  and 
character  ;  world-wisdom  and  refinements  of  the  heart ; 
breadth  and  wholeness  of  culture,  such  as  could  alone  justify 
the  boldness  of  their  attempt,     "  It  is  questionable,"  says 

*  This  Massachusetts  Assembly,  over  which  Henry  Vane  presided,  has 
been  said  to  be  "  the  first  body  in  which  the  people,  by  their  representatives, 
ever  gave  their  own  money  to  found  a  place  of  education."  (Quoted  by 
Palfrey,  vol.  i,  p.  247.) 

t  September  8, 1636. 

X  Mr.  Savage  estimates  that  in  1633  tlicro  were  in  Massachusetts  and 
Connecticut  not  fewer  than  forty  men  who  had  been  more  or  less  educated 
at  Cambridge,  England. 

»  "  History  of  Han-ard  University,"  Josiah  Quincy,  vol.  i,  p.  9. 


COLONIAL  COLLEGES.  21 

Mr.  Dwiglit,  "  whether  a  more  honorable  specimen  of  public 
spirit  can  be  found  in  the  history  of  mankind." 

Institutions  of  learning  are  expected  among  men  of  in- 
tellect and  refinement,  but  not  in  poverty ;  in  leisure,  but 
not  surrounded  by  public  dangers.  "  These  early  settlers," 
wrote  Quincy,  "  waited  not  for  affluence,  for  days  of  peace, 
or  even  domestic  concord."  Neither  narrowness  of  terri- 
torial limits,  nor  fear  of  savage  enemies,  nor  scanty  subsist- 
ence, nor  meager  population  ;  neither  religious  dispute,  nor 
uncertain  abode,  nor  lack  of  leisure  restrained  their  un- 
bounded zeal  for  an  education  that  to  them  seemed  not  so 
much  desirable  as  necessary,  that ''  the  light  of  learning 
might  not  go  out,  nor  the  study  of  God's  Word  perish." 

Notwithstanding  their  own  learning,  however,  and  solici- 
tude for  their  children,  they  must  have  failed  in  their  under- 
taking had  it  not  been  for  the  generous  gift  of  John  Har- 
vard. 

A  citizen  of  Boston,  writing  back  to  friends  in  1643,  says  : 
"  After  we  had  builded  our  houses,  provided  necessaries  for 
our  livelihood,  reared  convenient  places  for  woi'ship,  and 
settled  the  civill  government,  one  of  the  next  things  wee 
longed  for  and  looked  after  was  to  advance  learning  and  to 
perpetuate  it  to  posterity ;  dreading  to  leave  an  illiterate 
ministry  to  the  churches,  when  our  present  ministers  shall 
lie  in  the  dust.  And  as  wee  were  thinking  and  consulting 
how  to  effect  this  great  work,  it  pleased  God  to  stir  up  the 
heart  of  one  Mr.  Harvard  (a  godly  gentleman  and  a  lover  of 
learning,  then  living  among  us)  to  give  the  one  half  of  his 
estate  (it  being  in  all  about  £1,700)  towards  the  erecting  of  a 
coUedge,  and  all  his  library.  After  him  another  gave  £300 ; 
others  after  them  cast  in  more,  and  the  publique  hand  of  the 
State  added  the  rest. "  *    The  official  record  is  similar. 

Of  John  Harvard  little  is  known.  The  institution  founded 
is  his  best  monument.  This  much  may  perhaps  be  said :  He 
was  a  son  of  Robert  and  Katharine  (Rogers)  Harvard,  and  was 

*  "  Massachusetts  Historical  Collections,"  vol.  i,  p.  242. 


22  THE  COLONIAL  PERIOD. 

bom  in  the  parish  of  Southwark,  London,  November  29, 1607. 
His  father  was  a  butcher  by  trade,  dying  while  John  was  yet 
a  youth.  He  entered  Emmanuel  College,  Cambridge,  at  the 
age  of  twenty-one,  his  name  appearing  on  the  registrar's  book 
as  a  pensioner.  He  received  the  bachelor's  degree  in  1631,  and 
was  made  a  master  four  years  later.  Beyond  these  meager 
facts,  concerning  his  life  in  England,  it  is  only  known  that 
he  was  a  dissenting  clergyman,  and  set  sail  for  this  country- 
some  time  in  the  early  part  of  1637.  Almost  immediately 
upon  his  arrival  in  Massachusetts  he  was  admitted  a  free- 
man of  the  village — Charlestown — along  with  his  co-laborer, 
Mr.  John  Fisk,  and  others.  He  continued  his  ministry,  as 
appears  from  the  records,  and  was  wealthy  beyond  his  sur- 
rotindings.  His  small  bequest  was  almost  double  what  the 
whole  colony  besides  was  able  to  give.  Thirty  years  old,  and 
a  finished  scholar,  after  the  severe  standards  even  of  that  ul- 
tra-classical period,  his  counsel  was  sought  outside  the  field 
of  theology  also;  for,  almost  immediately  upon  his  arrival, 
he  was  appointed  one  of  a  committee  "  to  consider  of  some 
things  toward  a  body  of  laws  for  the  town."  After  a  year 
in  the  colony  he  died  of  consumption,  September  24, 1638. 
He  has  been  called  "reverend"  and  "godly."  Henry  Bar- 
nard says  of  him,  "  He  was  the  greatest  benefactor  of  edu- 
cation in  America." 

"  It  was  given,"  said  Edward  Everett,  "  to  the  venerated 
man  whom  we  commemorate  this  day "  *  (1828),  "  first  to 
strike  the  key-note  in  the  character  of  this  people ;  first  to 
perceive  with  a  prophet's  foresight,  and  to  promote  with  a 
princely  liberality,  considering  his  means,  that  connection 
between  private  munificence  and  public  education  which, 
well  understood  and  pursued  by  others,  has  given  to  New 
England  no  small  portion  of  her  name  and  praise  in  the 
land." 

His  boolvs,  which  formed  the  nucleus  of  the  present  Har- 
vard Library,  were  solid  and  standard.    The  catalogue  is  still 

*  Upon  the  erection  of  a  monument  at  Charlestown  to  his  memory. 


COLONIAL  COLLEGES.  23 

preserved,  showing  two  hundred  and  sixty  volumes,  and  is 
one  window  into  the  intellectual  habit  of  the  man.  As 
might  be  expected,  they  were  chiefly  theological  and  polem- 
ical. They  were  also  classical,  and  mark  the  thoughtful  bias 
along  with  general  culture.  There  were  Aquinas  and  Chrys- 
ostom  and  Calvin ;  Duns  Scotus,  Luther,  and  Pelagius  ;  but 
there  were,  besides.  Bacon  and  Homer,  Isocrates  and  Plu- 
tarch, Pliny,  Juvenal,  and  Horace.  John  Harvard  *  was  a 
fit  benefactor  of  the  first  American  university. 

The  colony  caught  his  spirit.  Among  the  magistrates 
themselves  two  hundred  pounds  was  subscribed,  a  part  in 
books.  All  did  something,  even  the  indigent.  One  sub- 
scribed a  number  of  sheep  ;  another,  nine  shillings'  worth  of 
cloth  ;  one,  a  ten-shilling  pewter  flagon  ;  others,  a  fruit-dish, 
a  sugar-spoon,  a  silver-tipped  jug,  one  great  salt,  one  small 
trencher  salt,  etc.  From  such  small  beginnings  did  the  in- 
stitution take  its  start.  No  rank,  no  class  of  men,  is  unrep- 
resented.    The  school  was  of  the  people. 

The  institution  was  as  yet  only  a  modest  school ;  not  till 
later  did  it  aspire  to  be  a  college,  much  less  a  university. 
The  first  principal,  during  whose  administration  the  Harvard 
bequest  was  received,  was  Nathaniel  Eaton.  "  Of  this  man," 
says  Josiah  Quincy,  "  nothing  has  been  transmitted  worthy 
of  being  repeated  "  ;  a  thought  emphasized  in  the  statement 
of  Hubbard,  that  "  he  was  fitter  to  have  been  an  officer  in 
the  Inquisition  than  the  instructor  of  Christian  youth."  t 

Eaton  was  succeeded  (1640)  by  Mr.  Henry  Dunster,  with 
the  title  of  "President."  A  scholarly,  painstaking,  pious, 
earnest  man,  he,  of  all  the  early  friends  of  the  college,  after 
its  founder,  deserves  most  thoughtful  notice.  Under  his  di- 
rection was  formed  the  first  code  of  laws,  regulations  were 

*  The  remains  of  John  Harvard  lie  buried  on  Harvard  Hill,  in  Charles- 
town,  where  (1828),  almost  two  centuries  after  his  death,  a  monument  was 
erected  to  his  memory  ;  it  was  upon  this  occasion  that  Hon.  Edward  Ever- 
ett pronounced  his  famous  oration  on  the  founder  of  Harvard  College.  (See 
*'  Orations,"  vol.  i,  p.  176.) 

t  "  History  of  New  England,"  p.  'Jl. 


24  TUE  COLONIAL  PERIOD. 

adopted,  and  degrees  established.  Like  John  Harvard,  Mr. 
Dtmster  was  educated  in  Emmanuel  College,  and,  like  him 
also,  had  been  a  nonconformist  clergyman. 

From  his  own  early  training,  he  patterned  the  Harvard 
course  largely  after  that  of  the  English  universities,  though 
variously  modified  to  suit  the  new  conditions.  After  nine- 
teen years  of  only  informal  management  the  policy  began 
to  be  more  fixed,  and  the  requirements  for  admission  were 
announced  as  follows  :  "  When  any  scholar  is  able  to  read 
Tully  or  any  like  classical  Latin  author,  ex  tempore,  and 
make  and  speak  true  Latin  in  verse  and  prose  (suo  ut  aiunt 
Marie),  and  decline  perfectly  the  paradigms  of  nouns  and 
verbs  in  the  Greek  tongue,  then  may  he  be  admitted  to  the 
college  ;  nor  shall  any  claim  admission  before  such  qualifi- 
cation." 

The  course  covered  three  years,  and,  in  the  nomenclature 
of  the  day,  was  both  "  liberal "  and  comprehensive.  It  must 
be  remembered  that  for  sixty  years  the  institution  was  little 
more  than  a  training-school  for  ministers,  managed  as  a  the- 
ological seminary,  having  religion,  of  a  more  or  less  well- 
defined  type,  as  its  basis  and  chief  object.  Yet,  as  Prof. 
Emerson  has  put  it,*  "It  is  one  of  the  most  remarkable 
things  in  the  history  of  Harvard,  that,  in  all  the  constitu- 
tions of  the  college,  there  is  nothing  illiberal  or  sectarian  ; 
nothing  to  check  the  freest  pursuit  of  truth  in  theological 
opinions,  and  in  everything  else;  and  this,  too,  while  the 
founders  of  the  college  were  severely  and  strictly  orthodox; 
often  exclusive  in  their  own  opinions,  and  while  their  object 
was  unquestionably  to  provide  for  the  thorough  education 
of  ministers  of  the  gospel  of  like  views  with  themselves." 

The  course  t  included  two  years  of  logic,  and  something 
of  physics ;  two  of  ethics  and  politics ;  two  of  mathematics 
(including,  however,  only  arithmetic  and  geometry),  the 
equivalent  of  four  years  of  Greek,  and  one  year  each  of  He- 

♦  "  Lowell  Lectures,"  1869,  p.  298. 

t  KJchardson'a  "  The  CoUege  Book,"  p.  8. 


COLONIAL  COLLEGES.  25 

brew,  Chaldee,  and  Syriac.  Latin  was  excluded  as  some- 
thing that  must  have  been  mastered  before  entrance,  its  con- 
versational use  being  obligatory  upon  all  within  the  limits 
of  the  college,  in  place  of  the  mother-tongue,  which  was  "  to 
be  used  under  no  pretext  whatever,  unless  required  in  public 
exercises."  The  Bible  was  systematically  studied  for  the  en- 
tire three  years,  Ezra,  Daniel,  and  the  New  Testament  being 
specified.  A  year  was  given  to  catechetical  divinity.  Daily 
prayers  must  be  attended  "  at  six  o'clock  in  the  morning  and 
five  o'clock  at  night  all  the  yeare  long  " ;  at  which  time  stu- 
dents were  required  to  "  read  some  portion  of  the  Old  Testa- 
ment out  of  Hebrew  into  Greek,  and  the  New  Testament  out 
of  English  into  Greek,  after  which  "  one  of  the  Bachelors  or 
Sophisters  should  logically  analyze  that  which  was  read." 

History  was  taught  by  lectures  a  few  weeks  in  the  winter, 
and  botany  in  like  manner  in  the  summer.  Allowing  even 
for  this  last,  science  was  practically  unknown  ;  all  profane 
literature  was  excluded  ;  and  even  "philosophy,  such  as  is 
worthy  of  the  name,"  says  Richardson,  "  was  untouched." 

Not  less  exacting  were  the  requirements  of  studentship. 
President  Diinster  seems  to  have  been  head  and  body  of  the 
whole  institution.  No  possible  conduct  escaped  his  eye. 
Class  deportment,  plan  of  studies,  personal  habits,  daily  life, 
private  devotions,  social  intercourse,  and  civil  privileges, 
were  all  directed. 

Concerning  degrees  it  was  ordered  that  "every  scholar 
that  on  proof  is  found  able  to  read  the  originals  of  the  Old 
and  New  Testament  into  the  Latin  tongue,  and  to  resolve 
them  logically ;  withal  being  of  Godly  life  and  conversation ; 
and  at  any  publick  act  hath  the  approbation  of  the  overseers 
and  master  of  the  CoUedge,  is  fit  to  be  dignified  with  his  first 
degree."* 

For  a  second  degree,  it  was  required,  in  addition  to  the 

*  See  "  New  England's  First  Fruits,"  a  quaintly  entertaining  sketch  of 
Harvard,  written  1643,  and  to  be  found  iu  "  Alassachusetts  Historical  Col- 
lections," vol.  i,  p.  245. 


26  THE  COLONUL  PERIOD. 

above,  that  the  applicant  should  "give  up  a  system,  or 
synopsis  or  summe"  of  logic,  natural  and  moral  philoso- 
phy, arithmetic,  geometry,  and  astronomy  ;  and  defend  his 
thesis. 

The  first  commencement  was  held  in  1642,  when  nine 
young  men  took  their  degrees.  The  first  doctorate  conferred 
was  upon  the  famous  Increase  Mather  (1692),  a  distinction  "  as 
well  deserved,"  says  Quincy,  "  as  it  was  acceptable  to  both 
father  and  son." 

Under  President  Dunster  the  college  grew  and  prospered. 
Few  men  have  done  so  much  for  American  education  as  he. 
In  a  chaotic  period  he  gave  it  form.  Amid  distracting  re- 
ligious and  political  claims,  he  secured  to  the  ox)llege  a 
union  of  interests  and  a  co-operation  of  forces  that,  aside 
from  formal  education,  did  much  to  shape  and  fi^  a  com- 
mon New  England  sentiment.  During  his  office,  Harvard 
acquired  such  repute  that  "in  several  instances  youths  of 
opvilent  families  in  the  parent  countiy  were  sent  to  the 
American  Cambridge  for  a  finishing  education."  * 

In  the  year  1647  the  population  of  the  Massachusetts 
Bay  Colony  was  about  four  thousand,  and  that  of  all  New 
England  something  more  than  five  times  as  much.  There 
were  in  all,  fifty  towns  and  villages,  as  many  ministers,  and 
half  as  many  churches.  Of  the  twenty  graduates  in  the 
first  decade,  twelve  found  their  life-work  in  Europe  ;  but  of 
the  five  hundred  alumni  during  the  seventeenth  century, 
fully  one  half,  it  is  estimated,  entered  the  ministry,  and 
chiefly  in  New  England.  After  Chauncy,  successor  to 
Dunster  and  second  president  of  the  college,  "  both  presi- 
dents and  tutors  were  chosen  from  its  own  graduates."  f 

The  four  colonies  had,  in  the  first  decade,  given  Harvard 
thirteen  hundi'cd  dollars — Boston,  one  third  of  it.  Con- 
necticut, about  this  time,  projected  a  college  ;  but,  failing  in 
the  undertaking,  the  money  raised  was  generously  turned 

♦  Palfrey's  "  History  of  New  England,"  vol.  i,  p.  2D0. 
+  Geoi^e  C.  Bush's  "  Harvard  College,"  p.  63. 


COLONIAL  COLLEGES.  27 

over  to  Massachusetts.  Indeed,  it  is  on  record  that,  up  to 
the  founding  of  Yale,  the  one  settlement  of  New  Haven  had 
furnished  one  thirtieth  of  the  Harvard  graduates. 

The  institution  was  intrusted  to  a  managing  board  in 
1642,  and  eight  yeai-s  later  received  its  first  and  only  charter, 
sealed  by  Governor  Dudley,  and  ratified  by  the  Constitution 
of  1780.  Fellowships  were  introduced  by  President  Dun- 
ster,  and,  about  1725,  two  professorships  founded  by  a  Lon- 
don merchant.  Aside  from  the  latter,  the  salaries  were,  for 
a  hundred  years,  paid  out  of  the  colonial  treasury. 

In  an  official  paper  signed  by  Governor  Endicott,  bearing 
date  1655,  and  addressed  to  the  General  Court,  information 
was  given  that  "  all  the  estate  the  college  hath  (as  appears 
by  the  inventory  thereof),  is  only  its  present  building,  library, 
and  a  few  utensils  with  the  press,*  and  some  parcels  of  land 
(none  of  which  can  with  any  reason,  or  to  any  benefit,  be 
sold  to  help  in  the  premises),  and  in  real  revenue,  about 
twelve  pounds  per  annum  (which  is  a  small  pittance  to  be 
shared  among  four  fellows),  besides  fifteen  pounds  per  an- 
num, which  by  donor's  appointment  is  for  scholarships." 

During  the  next  fifty  yeai^s  the  embarrassments  of  the  col- 
lege were  numerous,  both  financial  and  official.  Salaries — 
small  as  they  were — were  repudiated  ;  the  buildings  were 
decayed,  and  the  political  influences  of  the  English  Restora- 
tion were  noticeable  in  the  diminished  support  accorded  the 
college.  Added  to  all  this,  the  president  proved  inefiicient, 
BJid  the  attendance  greatly  decreased.  But  for  timely  help 
from  New  Hampshire,  and  occasional  private  aid  from  Eng- 
land, the  institution  must  have  been  seriously  impaired. 

Under  the  provincial  reorganization  of  William  and 
Mary,  a  strong  effort  was  made  to  revive  the  college  interest. 
A  royal  charter  was  repeatedly  sought.  It  was  a  period  of 
extreme  religious  controversy  and  political  unrest,  witchcraft 

*  The  printing-press  brought  from  England,  and  set  up  at  Harvard  by 
Stephen  Daye  in  1039.  (See  Thomas's  "  History  of  Printing,"  voL  i,  pp. 
203,  231). 


23  THE  COLONIAL  PERIOD. 

was  at  its  highest,  Calvinism  and  the  newer  New  England 
Congregationalism  were  in  conflict.*  The  college  was  with- 
out a  recognized  charter,  and  for  twenty  years  without  a  resi- 
dent head.t  The  once  unquestioned  power  of  the  clergy  was 
waning.  There  was  faction  without,  and  sometimes  incom- 
petence within.  A  child  of  the  people,  and  expecting  little 
from  royalty,  it  received  less.  Having  only  a  provincial 
charter,  with  no  English  authority,  the  institution  lacked 
permanence.  The  management  was  various  and  unequal. 
A  fixed  constitution  was  indispensable.  This  came,  as  has 
been  noted,  not  from  the  queen,  but  from  a  royal  Grovemor, 
Joseph  Dudley,  of  whom  and  whose  service  to  the  college, 
Mr.  Quincy  has  said,  "  Of  all  statesmen  who  have  been  in- 
strumental in  promoting  the  interests  of  Harvard  College, 
Governor  Joseph  Dudley  was  most  influential  in  giving  its 
constitution  permanent  character." 

President  Leverett  (1707-1724)  was  a  man  of  rare  intel- 
lectual attainments  and  dignity  of  character.  Rich  in  schol- 
arship, he  was  at  the  same  time,  what  was  far  more  common 
then  than  now,  both  theologian  and  statesman.  He  was  one 
of  the  earliest,  if  not  the  first,  among  American  recipients  of 
election  to  membership  in  the  Royal  Society  of  London. 
Under  his  somewhat  uneventftil  service  were  initiated  cer- 
tain improvements  in  the  curriculum,  which,  while  not  com- 
pleted for  many  years,  ultimately  made  the  Revolutionary 
Harvard  very  difi'erent  from  that  of  the  seventeenth  century. 

First,  Latin  ceased  to  be  required  in  conversation,  and 
through  VirgU  and  Cicero  became  a  part  of  the  instruction. 
Chaldee  and  Syriac  were  omitted,  though  Hebrew  long  re- 
mained. After  a  time  there  was  added  to  the  course,  some- 
thing of  geography,  and  in  a  limited  way  of  physics.    Not 

♦  This  is  well  treated  in  Qiiincy's  "  History  of  Harvard  University,'' 
vol.  i,  p.  366. 

t  Both  Increase  Mather  (except  for  a  few  months  of  the  sixteen  years  he 
held  the  office)  and  Samuel  Willard,  residing  in  Boston  and  having  minis- 
terial chaises. 


COLONIAL  COLLEGES.  29 

until  near  the  Revolution  was  any  attempt  made  to  organ- 
ize the  instruction  into  a  system,  by  establishing  departments 
or  courses.  This  change  marks  an  epoch  in  the  development 
of  the  Harvai*d  curriculum.  All  instruction  was  thrown  into 
the  four  groups  :  1.  Latin.  2.  Greek.  3.  Logic  and  meta- 
physics, 4.  Mathematics  and  natural  philosophy  ;  each  of 
which  was  put  into  the  exclusive  charge  of  one  man. 

By  benefactions  during  the  century  prior  to  the  Revolu- 
tion, the  college  received  in  money  nearly  fifteen  thousand 
pounds,  of  which  Thomas  Hollis,  an  English  Dissenting 
friend,  and  his  son,  gave  one  half.  It  received  also  one 
thousand  acres  of  land,  and  a  few  books.  Nevertheless,  the 
management  all  these  years  had  to  do  with  poverty  and  fac- 
tion and  antagonisms.  Dvmster  was  compelled  to  resign 
his  presidency  through  the  jealousies  of  Paedobaptist  fanat- 
icism. Chauncy  lived  in  grinding  poverty  ;  Mather  and 
Willard  both  depended  upon  pastoral  relations  to  eke  out  a 
pinched  maintenance  ;  and  Leverett  died  bankrupt.*  But 
most  of  all  and  most  serious,  the  institution  was  for  years 
disturbed  by  being  brought  into  the  religious  controversies 
of  the  time.  In  a  controversial  age  this  was  inevitable. 
The  conscience  of  dissent  begot  a  habit. 

The  very  foundation  idea  of  the  college  was  the  theo- 
logic  want.  The  presidents  and  members  of  the  corporation 
were  generally  the  prominent  scholars,  the  theologians,  and 
political  leaders,  of  the  community  and  time.  The  college 
easily  came  to  be  the  arena  upon  which,  or  the  interest 
about  which,  were  fought  those  terrible  logomachies  of 
dogma  and  doctrine.  These  required,  as  they  had,  the  best 
learning,  the  shrewdest  insight,  the  most  politic  minds  of 
the  day. 


*  The  president's  salary  during  this  period  never  exceeded  two  hundred 
pounds  a  year,  and  usually  was  but  one  hundred  and  fifty.  The  total  grants 
made  to  the  college  during  the  first  century,  by  the  colony,  amounted  to 
about  eight  thousand  dollars.  At  the  close  of  the  century  (1732),  the  total 
annual  income  from  all  sources  was  but  seven  hundred  and  fifty  pounds, 
3 


30  THE  COLONIAL  PERIOD. 

In  the  controversies  sustained  by  the  Mathers;  in  the 
New  England  scheme  for  establishing  a  chair  of  divinity 
by  Hoi  lis  ;  in  the  conflict  of  Puritans  and  Episcopalians; 
Whitefield  and  Wiggles  worth ;  Chauncy  and  Edwards,  the 
college  was  repeatedly  shaken  to  its  foundations.  Yet, 
through  it  all,  it  accomplished  a  much-needed  work,  with 
manifold  wholesome  reactions  upon  society  and  govern- 
ment, so  that  it  has  been  affirmed,  with  show  of  truth,  that 
*'  the  founding  of  Harvard  College  hastened  the  Revolution 
half  a  century."  * 

2.  The  College  of  William  and  Mary. 

Ten  years  after  the  settlement  at  Jamestown  (1617),  the 
English  king,  James  I,  addressed  the  following  letter  to  the 
bishops  of  the  English  churches : 

"  Most  Reverend  Father  in  Grod,  right  trustie  and  well- 
beloved  counsellor,  wee  greet  you  well : — 

"  You  have  heard,  ere  this  time  of  the  attempt  of  diverse 
worthie  men,'  our  subjects,  to  plant  in  Virginia  (under  war- 
rant of  our  letters  patent).  People  of  this  Kingdom,  as  well 
for  the  enlarging  of  our  Dominion,  as  for  the  propagation 
of  the  Gospel  among  Infidells:  wherein  there  is  good  prog- 
ress made,  and  hope  of  further  increase;  so  as  the  mider- 
takers  of  that  Plantation  are  now  in  hand  with  the  erecting 
of  some  churches  and  some  schools  for  the  education  of  the 
children  of  those  barbarians ;  ...  in  which  we  doubt  not 
but  that  you  and  all  others  who  wish  well  to  the  increase  of 
the  Christian  religion  will  be  willing  to  give  all  assistance 
and  furtherance  you  may,  and  therein  to  make  experience 
of  the  zeal  and  devotion  of  our  well-minded  subjects,  esjK)- 
cially  those  of  the  clergy. 

"  Whereby  we  do  require  you,  and  hereby  authorize  you 
to  write  your  letters  to  the  severall  Bishops  of  the  Dioceses  of 
your  Province,  that  they  do  gfive  order  to  ministers  and 

♦  Concerning  this  controversial  period  and  its  relations  to  the  college, 
read  chapters  vii,  x,  and  xxii  of  Quincy'a  "  History  of  Harvard  University." 


COLONIAL  COLLEGES.  31 

other  zealous  men  of  their  Dioceses  both  by  their  own  ex- 
ample in  contribution,  and  by  exhortation  to  others  to  move 
our  people  within  their  severall  charges  to  contribute  to  so 
good  a  work  in  as  liberal  a  manner  as  they  may ;  for  the 
better  advancing  whereof  our  pleasure  is  that  those  collec- 
tions be  made  in  the  particular  parishes  four  severall  times 
within  these  two  years  next  coming ;  and  that  the  severall 
accounts  of  each  parish  together  with  the  monies  collected, 
be  returned  from  time  to  time  to  the  Bishops  of  the  Dioceses, 
and  by  them  transmitted  half-yearly  to  you ;  and  so  to  be 
delivered  to  the  treasurer  of  that  Plantation,  to  be  employed 
for  the  Godly  purpose  intended  and  no  other."  * 

Two  years  afterward  (1619)  Sir  Edwin  Sandys,  treasurer, 
reported  fifteen  hundred  pounds,  one  half  of  which  had  been 
loaned  to  the  company  as  an  investment,  whose  interest 
should  be  applied  to  the  support  of  the  school. 

He  recommended,  however,  that  the  building  of  the 
college  be  temporarily  postponed ;  that  a  piece  of  land  be 
laid  out  at  Henrico,  which  should  be  called  the  "college 
land,"  one  half  the  returns  from  which  should  go  to  the 
company,  and  be  set  apart  as  a  "  college  fund. "  t  It 
was  so  ordered.  A  hundred  laborers  were  sent  over,  a 
superintendent  of  buildings  was  appointed,  and  Eev.  Patrick 
Copeland  made  first  president  of  the  college.  The  enter- 
prise was  promising.  Everything  was  planned  on  a  large 
scale.  These  were  loyal  English  subjects  and  had  the  pat- 
ronage of  the  throne.  In  the  year  1621  the  preparatory 
school  at  Charles  City  was  ordered  open,  with  its  lands  and 
servants  and  revenue.     The  college  was  to  follow. 

The  massacre,  the  next  year,  put  a  stop  to  every  enter- 
prise, except  that  of  self-defense.  Superintendent  Thorp, 
nine  of  the  college  laborers,  and  more  than  three  hundred 

*  Neill's- "  Virginia  Vetusta,"  p.  16Y. 

+  The  story  of  the  efforts  in  Virginia  during  these  years  to  found  a  college 
is  told  with  much  interest  and  a  fund  of  original  material,  in  Mr.  Neill's 
"Virginia  Company  of  London." 


32  THE  COLONIAL  PERIOD. 

colonists,  perished  in  a  day.  It  seemed  as  if  years  must 
elapse  before  anything  further  could  be  even  attempted. 
Dangers  were  all  about.  The  Virginia  savages  were  at  their 
cruelest,  crops  were  xincertain,  disease  had  numerous  victims, 
and  for  many  months  the  company's  reports  abounded  in 
disappointment  and  defeat.  Of  ten  thousand  colonists,  old 
and  young,  said  to  have  arrived  in  the  first  sixteen  years  of 
the  Virginia  settlement,  but  two  thousand  remained. 

Yet  the  colonists  were  not  disheartened.  The  only  peo- 
ple on  the  continent  asking  immediate  means  of  schooling, 
their  sacrifices  become  heroic.  New  England  existed  in 
four  towns.  Davenport,  Winthrop,  Eaton,  and  John  Har- 
vard were  still  in  England.  As  yet  Virginia  was  America. 
Ambitious  beyond  their  means,  there  was  no  Berkeley  to 
oppose.  Almost  immediately  after  the  massacre  the  idea  of 
the  college  was  revived. 

One  Edward  Palmer,  an  educated  Englishman,  and  holder 
of  a  Virginia  patent,  provided  by  will  for  the  founding  of  a 
university  and  school  of  art,  on  an  island  near  the  mouth  of 
the  Susquehanna  River.  He  is  said  to  have  spent  many 
thousand  pounds  improving  the  island,  and  the  inunediate 
site,  that  it  should  be  at  once  a  quiet  retreat  for  the  studious, 
and  afford  security  from  the  attacks  of  the  savage.  It  was 
to  be  called  "  Academia  Virginiensis  et  Oxoniensis. "  *  Of  all 
this,  liowever,  nothing  remains  but  the  memory  of  a  mis- 
placed aestheticism,  the  vagary  of  an  educational  enthusiast. 
The  Indian  was  a  poor  subject  for  a  school  of  art ;  and  the 
Indian  seemed  to  rvQe. 

In  1660  the  founding  of  the  college  was  again  revived, 
this  time  by  the  settlers  themselves.  The  Virginia  Company 
had  dissolved,  nearly  forty  years  before.  It  had  sought  to 
colonize  the  country,  make  a  profitable  investment,  convert 
the  heathen  (the  infidels),  and  magnify  the  king.  On  every 
point  they  came  out  bankrupt :  money  had  been  sunk  in  the 
experiment,  lives  lost,  and  the  gains  to  religion,  to  learning, 

•  "  Viiginia  Vetusta,"  p.  183. 


COLONIAL  COLLEGES.  33 

and  to  humaa  comforts,  were  painfully  small.  The  settlers 
were  now  few,  and  in  poverty.  Harvard  was  flourishing, 
paying  her  president  one  hundred  and  fifty  pounds  a  year, 
and  fighting  heresy  through  anti-paedobaptism.  In  the  year 
named,  the  Virginia  Assembly,  moved  by  the  want  of  able 
and  faithful  ministers,  enacted  that  "for  the  advance  of 
learning,  education  of  youth,  supply  of  the  ministry,  and 
the  promotion  of  piety,  there  be  land  taken  for  a  coUedge 
and  free  schoole."  Subscriptions  were  taken,  and  others 
invited  by  magisterial  order  and  sanction.*  They  came 
from  every  class  and  of  varying  amounts. 

In  this  first  appears  the  spirit  of  the  people  as  distinct 
from  the  administration  and  the  Church.  It  marks  a  feeling 
of  confidence  and  self -helpfulness  wholly  new  to  the  Vir- 
ginian. Although  nothing  came  of  it  immediately,  it  con- 
stituted the  beginning  of  an  interest  that  culminated  in  the 
founding  of  William  and  Mary  College  thirty  years  later. 
The  institution  was  as  yet  without  name — only  known  as 
the  "  college  " — but  referred  to  in  frequent  communications, 
public  documents,  bequests,  and  legislation ;  and  universally 
so  recognized  throughout  Virginia,  the  Bermudas,  New  Eng- 
land, and  in  Parliament,  for  fifty  years  prior  to  the  reign  of 
William  and  Mary. 

Finally  (1688),  certain  wealthy  planters  subscribed  for 
the  college  twenty-five  hundred  pounds,  and  the  preamble 
to  the  charter  then  sought,  and  obtained  five  years  later,  was 
largely  in  the  words  of  the  act  of  1660.  The  Winthrop  of 
Virginia  was  Rev.  James  Blair,  for  many  years  a  minister 
of  the  Established  Church,  first  in  England,  then  in  the  col- 
ony; and  later  an  educator,  a  scholar,  and  an  author,  he 
was  familiar  with  the  people,  their  institutions,  and  their 
ignorance,  as  few  others  could  be.  He  presented  the  cause 
to  the  queen  in  person,  receiving  her  enthusiastic  support. 
King  William  co-operated.  Both  generously  gave  aid  in 
money,  promising  a  charter. 

*  Hcnning's  "  Statutes  at  Large"  (Virginia),  voL  ii,  p.  25. 


34  TEE  COLONIAL  PERIOD. 

When  Seymour,  the  attorney-general,  was  presented  with 
the  royal  order  for  a  charter,  he  refused.  The  home  country 
was  involved  in  a  war  with  France ;  and  Virginia  and  the 
barbarians  could  wait  for  their  college,  Mr.  Blair  urged,  by 
way  of  manly  api)eal,  that,  as  "  Virginians  had  souls  to  be 
saved  as  well  as  their  English  countrymen,"  the  institution 
was  needed  to  prepare  young  men  for  the  ministry.  "  Souls  ! " 
cried  Seymour,  "damn  your  souls!  make  tobacco."  Not- 
withstanding official  profanity,  however,  the  charter  was 
granted — the  first  royal  educational  charter  in  America. 
Aid  was  abundantly  given.  A  provisional  board  was  con- 
stituted, Mr.  Blair  was  made  first  president,  and  the  college 
of  William  and  Mary  became  the  second  colonial  school. 
By  charter  the  college  was  established  in  the  Middle  Plan- 
tation, now  Williamsburg,  where  it  remains  ;  was  given 
twenty  thousand  acres  of  land,  a  penny  a  pound  tax  on  all 
tobacco  exported  from  Virginia  and  Maryland,  and  the  fees 
and  privileges  of  the  Surveyor-General's  office.*  It  further 
provided  for  a  chancellor,  who  should  hold  his  office  seven 
years ;  a  president  (in  terms  of  the  charter,  a  commissary) ; 
the  education  of  Indians  ;  immunity  of  the  college  belong- 
ings from  taxation,  and  a  representative  of  the  college  in  the 
colonial  Legislature.  In  respect  of  the  last  point,  at  least, 
the  history  of  William  and  Mary  is  peculiar  among  Ameri- 
can institutions  of  learning.  This  representative  might  be 
one  of  the  faculty,  or  a  member  of  the  board  of  visitors,  or 
"  one  of  the  better  sort  of  inhabitants  of  the  colony,"  but,  in 
any  case,  the  selection  was  by  the  college  faculty.  The  bish- 
ops of  London  were  the  chancellors  down  to  the  Revolution. 
Greorge  Washington,  chosen  to  the  office  in  1789,  was  not 
only  the  first  American,  but  the  first  layman,  to  receive  the 
honor. 

The  institution  came  into  existence  rich.  In  three  months 
it  was  given  more  than  Harvard  received  for  the  first  fifty 

*  Washington  and  JeflPereon  both  received  their  Burvcyor'a  commission 
from  the  College  of  William  and  Mary. 


COLONIAL  COLLEGES.  35 

years.  In  twenty  years,  wMle  Harvard  was  in  poverty  and 
Yale  had  yet  no  fixed  existence,  the  property  of  William  and 
Mary  included,  besides  buildings  and  grounds,  22,450  acres  of 
the  richest  of  Virginia  river-bottom  land,  a  large  tobacco 
revenue,  the  fees  and  profits  of  the  Svirveyor  -  General's 
office,  together  with  a  considerable  cash  income.  In  its 
royal  foundation,  its  generous  endowment  and  liberal  pat- 
ronage, it  stands  in  sharp  conti-ast  to  the  early  years  of 
Harvard.  This  was  established  by  Puritans  and  stood  for 
the  severest  of  ultra-orthodox  though  dissenting  Protest- 
antism ;  that  was  fotmded  to  be  and  was  an  exponent  of  the 
most  formal  ceremonialism  of  the  Church  of  England.  The 
one  was  nm-sed  by  democracy ;  the  other  befriended  by  Cava- 
alier  and  courtier.  Endowment  for  the  one  came  from  the 
thin  purses  of  an  infant  and  needy  settlement ;  the  other  was 
drawn  from  the  royal  treasury.  The  one  was  environed 
and  shaken  for  a  hundred  years  by  the  schisms  of  a  contro- 
versial people ;  the  roots  of  the  other  were  deep  in  the  great 
English  ecclesiastical  system. 

In  the  organization,  besides  the  grammar-school  for  teach- 
ing the  Latin  and  Greek,  and  a  school  of  philosophy,  includ- 
ing mathematics,  there  was  designed  to  be  a  third,  and  one 
to  which  these  were  to  be  in  the  main  supplementary  and 
subordinate,  in  which  should  be  taught  divinity  and  the  Ori- 
ental languages  ;  *  for  it  was  part  of  the  original  plan,  run- 
ning back  through  the  years  to  1619,  that  the  college  when 
established  should  be  "  a  seminary  for  the  breeding  of  good 
ministers."!  Governors  and  visitors  were  required  to  be 
members  of  the  Church  of  England,  professors  to  subscribe 
to  the  Thirty-nine  Articles,  and  students  to  know  the  cate- 
chism. 

Of  the  curriculum  up  to  the  Revolution,  less  even  is 
known  than  of  that  of  Yale  of  the  same  period,  and  far  less 
than  of  Harvard.     All  were  of  English  pattern,  though 

*  To  these  was  afterward  added  the  "  Indian  school." 

+  See  "  Massachusetts  Historical  Collections,"  vol.  v,  p.  164. 


36  THE  COLONIAL  rERIOD. 

modified  in  time  by  local  conditions.  History  seems  to  have 
had  an  earlier  prominence  in  Virginia  than  in  the  colonies 
North.*  The  general  coui*se  covered  three  years,  and  in- 
cluded the  five  departments — Greek,  Latin,  mathematics, 
moral  philosophy,  and  divinity.  It  was  classical  and  pre- 
scribed. For  a  hundred  years  the  speaking  of  Latin  in 
original  composition  was  required  twice  a  month.  Meager 
as  it  all  seems  in  the  light  of  inadequate  records,  it  was  nev- 
ertheless a  "school  of  the  prophets,"  outside  divinity.  It 
was  a  place  where  independence  grew,  but  where  tolerance 
also  thrived.  Its  teaching  has  been  described  as  after  the 
Oxford  order  of  himaanities:  the  abstract  as  the  foundation 
of  the  concrete;  everything  for  discipline;  the  ancient  lan- 
guages before  the  modern;  the  laws  of  right  rather  than 
those  of  matter. 

Whatever  it  was,  the  historic  product  is  worthy  of  consid- 
eration. JefiPerson  and  four  other  signers  of  the  Declaration 
of  Independence  were  graduates ;  three  Randolphs,  Monroe, 
Judge  Blair,  and  Chief -Justice  Marshall.  This,  too,  from  a 
school  whose  annual  average  enrollment  for  the  entire  period 
was  less  than  seventy-five  students. 

With  an  annual  revenue  of  £4,000  it  was  by  far  the  best 
equipped  institution  in  America;  but  its  buildings  were 
twice  burned,  its  libraries  lost,  and  it  came  out  of  the  war 
(1783)  with  entire  loss  of  its  landed  interest,  and,  in  the  de- 
preciation of  currency,  of  all  its  endowment,  revenues,  etc. 

The  regulations  of  William  and  Mary  College  were  no 
less  severe  than  those  of  Harvard  already  noted.  Laws 
were  passed  (1754)  prohibiting  students  "  keeping  or  having 
to  do  with  race-horses,"  against  "  playing  or  betting  at  the 
bUliard  or  other  gaming  table,"  or  being  concerned  in  "  keep- 
ing or  fighting  cocks,"  under  pain  of  severest  animadversion 
or  pimishment.  Everything  was  prescriptive  and  manda- 
tory.   Even  the  faculty  had  no  escape.    Just  prior  to  the 

•  See  Adams's  "  College  of  William  aud  Mary,"  and  "  Study  of  History 
in  American  Colleges." 


COLONIAL  COLLEGES.  37 

Revolution,  the  Professor  of  Divinity  and  the  master  of  the 
grammar-school  having  married  and  taken  up  their  residence 
outside  the  college  grounds,  it  was  resolved  by  the  Board  of 
Visitors  that  it  was  "  the  opinion  of  this  visitation  that  the 
professors  and  masters,  their  engaging  in  marriage  and  the 
concerns  of  a  private  family,  and  shifting  their  residence  to 
any  place  without  the  college,  is  contrary  to  the  principles 
oh  which  the  college  was  founded  and  their  duty  as  pro- 
fessors." It  was  further  ordered  that  thereafter,  upon  the 
marriage  of  a  professor  or  master,  his  professorship  be  im- 
mediately vacated.* 

S.  Yale  College. 

With  John  Davenport,t  one  of  the  founders  of  the 
New  Haven  Colony,  it  was  a  design  from  the  first  to  provide 
them  a  college.  He  had  assisted  in  the  establishment  of 
Harvard  and  lost  no  opportunity  to  give  like  direction  to 
the  newer  colony.  In  1647  a  lot  was  set  apart  for  a  col- 
lege. Within  ten  years  the  need  was  so  urgently  felt  that 
New  Haven  had  subscribed  three  hundred  pounds  and  ad- 
joining settlements  neai'ly  as  much  more.  The  project  how- 
ever, halted.  The  "college"  was  not  begun.  The  people 
were  few,  and  the  embarrassments  attending  all  new  settle- 
ments pressing  at  New  Haven.  Besides,  the  support  of  all  the 
colonies  was  needed  at  Cambridge.  The  cost  was  counted, 
the  returns  from  two  small  colleges  put  beside  the  influence 
from  one  vigorous  and  well-supported  one ;  and  it  seemed  to 
them  more  wise  to  be  content  with  something  less  than  a 
college  at  home,  and  wait  for  a  more  favorable  season. 

Of  course,  it  could  not  long  remain  that  the  colony  of 
Davenport  and  Eaton  should  be  dependent  upon  another  for 
the  best  education.  The  inconveniences  of  a  journey  to  Bos- 
ton, the  extra  expense,  and  the  importance  of  a  sufl&cient 

*  See  "  Sketch  of  William  and  Mary  College,"  anonymous,  p.  50. 
t  He  was  a  member  of  the  committee,  1637,  to  carry  into  effect  the  order 
of  the  General  Court  locating  Harvard  College. 


38  THE  COLONIAL  PERIOD. 

and  thoroughly  and  wisely  educated  ministry,  all  served  to 
keep  alive  the  original  design.  In  1G98  a  plan  was  pro- 
I)osed,  and  embraced  with  great  unanimity.  It  contemplated 
a  college  founded  and  directed  by  a  general  synod  of  the 
churches.  It  should  be  called  the  "  School  of  the  Church," 
and  receive  from  them  toward  its  support,  and  an  oversight 
"  as  far  as  should  be  necessary  to  preserve  orthodoxy  in  the 
government."  ♦  The  synod  seems  not  to  have  been  formally 
constituted ;  but  the  ministers,  among  whom,  all  the  while, 
the  design  was  concerted  and  cherished,  held  it  in  remem- 
brance and  discussed  it  in  their  councils.  In  the  year  1699 
ten  of  the  principal  clergymen  of  the  colony  were  agreed 
upon  to  be  "  trustees  to  found,  erect,  and  govern  a  college." 
They  met  the  year  following  with  invited  counsel,  and 
formed  a  society,  to  consist  of  eleven  ministers,  to  take  initial 


At  a  second  meeting,  but  in  the  same  year,  each  trustee 
brought  a  number  of  books,  and,  laying  them  on  a  table,  pre- 
sented them  to  the  body,  saying  in  substance,  "  I  give  these 
books  for  the  founding  of  a  college  in  this  colony."  These 
forty  volumes,  and  the  acts  of  the  trustees  at  this  meeting 
(1700),  constitute  the  beginning  of  Yale  College.  Like  that 
at  Cambridge,  sixty-three  yeai'S  before,  it  was  without  dis- 
play; and,  except  for  the  magnanimous  character  of  the 
founders,  without  promise. 

The  colony  had  a  population  of  fifteen  thousand  (about 
one  fourth  that  of  Massachusetts),  a  tax-list  of  two  hundred 
thousand  pounds,  and  fifty  or  more  college  men,  including 
the  clergy. 

The  whole  of  New  England  had  a  population  of  less 
than  one  hundred  thousand,  whose  patronage  must  now 
be  divided  not  only  between  Harvard  and  Yale  (with  the 
advantages  three  to  one  in  favor  of  the  former  financially), 
but  more  or  less  also  with  the  recently  founded  William 

*  On  this  point  sec  a  "  Sketch  of  the  History  of  Yale  College,"  by  Prof. 
Kingsley,  1835. 


COLONIAL  COLLEGES.  39 

and  Mary  College.  With  limited  means  and  a  scattered  pop- 
ulation; little  royal  support,  and  the  taxing-  industry  of  a 
pioneer  life  ;  exhausted  by  Indian  wars,  and  no  established 
commerce,  the  prospect  was  anything  but  encouraging. 

The  beginning  was  made,  however;  a  charter  was  ob- 
tained the  year  following  (1701),  and  Rev.  Abraham  Pier- 
son  chosen  fii*st  rector.  The  school  (it  was  not  called  a 
college — sometimes  a  collegiate  school)  was  opened  in 
March,  1701,  and,  until  the  following  September,  one  Jacob 
Hemingway  was  the  sole  student.  The  first  fruits  were 
largely  gleanings  from  Cambridge.  The  school  increasing 
in  numbers,  a  tutor  was  elected  in  1703,  and  the  school  took 
on  something  of  organization.  The  regulations,  for  the  most 
part,  were  those  at  Harvard,  as  also  the  course  of  study. 

There  was  nothing  in  the  chai'ter  concerning  any  relig- 
ious test  for  trustees,  rectors,  or  tutoi-s.  It  was  early  re- 
quired by  the  trustees,  however,  that  no  instruction  should 
be  given  in  any  other  system  or  synopsis  of  divinity  than 
such  as  the  trustees  should  order  ;  and  that  students  should 
recite  daily,  and  be  examined  in,  the  "  Assembly's  Cate- 
chism "  and  Ames's  "  Cases  of  Conscience,"  and  "  Theologi- 
cal Theses. " 

To  add  to  the  first  year's  embarrassments,  the  school  had 
no  fixed  existence.  It  had  been  decided  (1701)  to  open  it  at 
Saybrook,  "  if  it  could  be  done  without  too  much  inconven- 
ience." Inasmuch  as  the  rector  lived  at  Killingworth,  how- 
ever, where  he  had  his  clerical  charge,  the  school  was  first 
located  there.  At  Mr.  Pierson's  death  (1707),  Rev.  Samuel 
Andrews  was  made  acting  rector,  with  whom,  for  nine  years, 
the  seniors  resided  and  were  taught,  at  Milford.  For  most 
of  this  time  the  under  classes  were  with  two  tutors  at  Say- 
brook,  the  nominal  seat  of  the  school,  and  where  for  fifteen 
years  the  commencements  were  held. 

Factions  had  been  at  work  for  a  permanent  location. 
In  1716  the  trustees  being  unable,  financially,  to  decide  the 
question  at  once,  allowed  to  students  (except  seniors)  the 
privilege  of  finding  their  own  instructors  until  the  next 


40  THE  COLONIAL  PERIOD. 

commencement.  Seniors  were  required  to  reside  with  the 
rector.  The  school,  small  as  it  was  (about  twenty-five  stu- 
dents), was  scattered  in  half  a  dozen  towns  of  the  colony. 
The  provision  was  extremely  unsatisfactory.  The  institu- 
tion was  really  no  institution.  Its  work  was  inconsiderable 
in  amount,  and  lacked  every  element  of  system,  or  unity, 
or  pervading  purpose  ;  and  yet,  even  then,  next  to  the 
churches,  it  was  the  one  object  of  concern  for  clergy  and 
educated  laity  ;  the  one  interest,  universal  and  ever  pres- 
ent ;  whose  discussion  was  destined  to  imite  the  Connecti- 
cut colonies  as  nothing  else  could.  The  factions  were  bit- 
ter enough  in  seeming,  but  they  were  superficial.  It  was 
finally  decided  to  locate  the  school  permanently  at  New 
Haven.    This  was  effected  in  1718. 

As  yet  little  has  been  said  of  the  financial  condition  and 
growth  of  Yale  College,  and  nothing  of  the  event  which 
finally  gave  it  a  name. 

Elihu  Yale  *  was  bom  in  Boston,  April  5, 1648.  At  ten 
years  of  age  he  was  taken  to  England  to  be  educated. 
Twenty  years  he  spent  in  the  schools  and  in  special  study. 
He  afterward  went  to  the  East  Indies,  acquired  a  large 
fortune,  was  made  Governor  of  Madras,  and,  later,  Grov- 
ernor  of  the  East  India  Company.  In  1718  he  was  elected 
a  Fellow  of  the  Royal  Society  of  London.  His  donations 
to  the  college  at  New  Haven,  largely  in  books,  amounted  to 
about  five  hundred  pounds. 

Next  to  John  Davenport,  also,  the  college  owed  much 
to  Rev.  Cotton  Mather,  of  Boston,  Somewhat  disaffected 
toward  Harvard,  on  theological  grounds,  t  both  he  and  his 

*  A  good  biography  of  Elihu  Yale,  including  so  much  as  is  known  of 
his  life,  may  be  found  in  the  "  Yale  Literary  Magazine,"  April,  1858. 

t  The  Saybrook  school  was  opened  the  year  after  the  unsuccessful  at- 
tempt at  Harvard  to  impose  a  religious  test ;  and  it  has  been  frequently 
affirmed,  with  some  show  of  truth,  that  the  first  movers  in  the  Connecticut 
school  alleged  this  as  a  reason :  that  the  college  at  Cambridge  was  under  the 
tutelage  of  latitudinariant,  (Quincy's  "  Harvard  University,"  vol.  ii,  p. 
462.) 


COLONIAL  COLLEGES.  41 

father  had,  from  the  beginning,  encouraged  the  Connecticut 
venture.  A  private  letter  from  the  younger  Mather  to  Gov- 
ernor Yale  probably  suggested  the  Yale  donation,  and  led, 
at  the  commencement,  1718,  to  affix  to  the  now  established 
institution  its  present  name.  Besides  Mr.  Yale,  others,  both 
in  this  country  and  in  England,  contributed  to  the  college, 
prominent  among  whom  was  the  Rev.  George  Berkeley, 
who  gave  ninety-six  acres  of  land  in  Rhode  Island,  and  one 
thousand  volumes  for  the  library.  The  conditions  and  cir- 
cumstances of  this  gift  are  interesting.  Dean  of  Derry,  and 
afterward-  Bishop  of  Cloyne,  he  was  a  man  of  outward  as 
well  as  iatellectual  rank.  Though  a  High  Churchman,  he 
was  a  liberal-minded,  scholarly,  generous-hearted  lover  of 
learning.  He  came  across  to  America  early  in  the  century, 
hoping,  with  the  promise  of  a  parliamentary  grant,  to  found 
a  college  in  the  Bermudas.  His  property  accumulated  ; 
but,  his  scheme  failing,  he  returned  to  England,  leaving  in 
America  many  nonconformist  friends  to  whom  and  for 
whom  it  was  easy  to  make  generous  gifts. 

The  entire  contribution  of  every  sort  made  by  the  Com- 
monwealth of  Connecticut  prior  to  the  Revolution  was  less 
than  twenty-five  thousand  dollars,  and  in  a  century  and  a 
haK  had  not  reached  one  hundred  thousand  dollars.  In- 
deed, the  institution  has  been  chiefly  supported,  as  it  was 
originally  founded,  by  private  means. 

Of  the  course  of  study  not  much  can  be  given  from  these 
earlier  years — even  less  than  of  Harvard  of  the  same  period. 
As  might  be  supposed,  it  was  chiefly  theological,  though  an 
occasional  tutor  seems  to  have  injected  somewhat  of  science 
into  the  common  routine.  Dr.  Samuel  Johnson  (1718)  broke 
away  from  the  established  cosmic  doctrine,  and  inti'oduced 
the  Copernican  theory,  Mr.  Ezra  Styles,  a  little  later,  made 
simple  experiments  with  an  electrical  machine  which  had 
been  presented  to  the  college  by  Benjamin  Franklin.  Rector 
Clap  (1740),  "  to  keep  the  college  abreast  with  what  were 
thought  to  be  the  demands  of  the  age,"  made  certain  addi- 
tions to  the  curriculum.    The  work  in  physics  and  mathe- 


42  THE  COLONIAL  PERIOD. 

matics  was  increased;  the  latter  comprising  instruction  in 
conic  sections  and  fluxions,  surveying,  navigation,  and  the 
calculation  of  eclipses.  While  there  was  not,  for  many 
years,  such  a  thing  thought  of  as  modern  history,  Dr.  Clap 
announced,  and  regularly  delivered  for  a  number  of  years, 
•'  lectures  upon  all  those  subjects  which  ai*e  necessary  to  be 
understood  to  qualify  young  men  for  the  various  stations 
and  employments  of  life."  Here  was  an  attempt  at  least, 
whatever  its  success,  to  fit  culture  to  living.  The  "  Great 
Awakening,"  also,  of  1740,  through  the  preaching  of  White- 
field  and  Jonathan  Edwards,  led  to  the  foimding  (1755), 
after  years  of  bitter  excitement,  and  tract  and  pamphlet  war, 
of  a  professorship  of  divinity.  Earlier  in  the  century, 
Rector  Cutler  and  part  of  the  tutors  had  gone  over  to  Epis- 
copacy,* and  had  been  "excused  from  further  service." 
This  was  suflBcient  cause  for  alarm  throughout  the  New 
England  congregations,  and  led  in  1722  to  the  introduction 
of  a  religious  test  in  Yale,  for  rector  and  tutor,  that  lasted 
for  a  hundred  years.  All  officers  of  the  college  were  re- 
quired to  assent  to  the  "  Saybrook  Platform"  of  1708,  giving 
satisfaction  of  "  the  soundness  of  their  faith  in  opposition 
to  Arminian  and  prelatical  corruption."  This  was  reaflBrmed 
in  1753,  and  was  followed  by  the  divinity  chair  noted  above. 

Bibliography. 

Of  the  colonial  colleges,  Ilarrard  is  best  known,  and  has  best  pre- 
served its  history.  The  earliest,  Part  I,  of  "  The  First  Fruits  of  New 
England,"  published  in  1642,  and  to  be  found  in  the  "Massachusetts 
nistorical  Collections,"  is  a  brief  but  detailed  sketch  of  the  first  Ameri- 
can college.  One  published  in  1833,  by  Prof.  Benjamin  Peirce,  covers 
the  colonial  period  only.  The  best  of  all  is  the  "  History  of  Harvard 
University,"  by  Josiah  Quincy,  1840.  Information  of  William  and  Mary 
College  is  very  meager.  An  anonymous  sketch,  published  in  1874,  gives 
a  brief  history,  a  list  of  the  alumni,  and  what  is  known  of  the  faculty 

*  This  defection  of  Mr.  Cutler  and  his  friends,  and  the  former's  relations 
to  Harvard  College,  as  well  as  to  the  theological  controversies  of  the  day, 
are  well  depicted  by  Mr.  Quincy  in  his  first  volume  (see  pp.  864-376.) 


COLONIAL  SCHOOL  SYSTEMS.  43 

and  curriculum  from  its  founding.  Consult  also  "De  Bow's  Review," 
August,  1859,  "Scribuer's  Monthly,"  vol.  xi,  p.  1,  and  a  recent  sketch  by 
H.  B.  Adams,  published  by  the  Bureau  of  Education.  Somewhat  more 
is  known  of  Yale  College,  though  far  less  than  of  Harvard,  and  the 
"Annals  of  Yale  College,"  by  President  Thomas  Clap  (l^BG),  a  "Sketch 
of  the  History  of  Yale  College,"  by  J.  S.  Kingsley  (1835),  and  "Yale 
University,"  by  T.  B.  Dexter  (1885),  contain  most  that  is  authoritative. 
Next  to  these,  perhaps  first  in  importance,  because  dwelling  upon  certain 
details,  are  the  numerous  articles  that  have  appeared  in  the  "Yale 
Literary  Magazine,"  begun  1836. 


CHAPTER  III. 

COLONIAL  SCHOOL  SYSTEMS. 

According  to  Horace  Mann,  there  are  three  fundamental 
projKjsitions  upon  which  the  common-school  system  of 
Massachusetts  rests.    These  he  gives  as — 

"1,  The  successive  generations  of  men,  taken  collect- 
ively, constitute  one  great  commonwealth. 

"  2.  The  property  of  tliis  commonwealth  is  pledged  for 
the  education  of  all  its  youth  up  to  such  point  as  will  save 
them  from  poverty  and  vice,  and  prepare  them  for  the  ade- 
quate performance  of  their  social  and  civil  duties. 

"  3.  The  successive  holders  of  this  ijroperty  are  trustees, 
bound  to  the  faithful  execution  of  their  trust  by  the  most 
sacred  obligations ;  and  embezzlement  and  pillage  from  chil- 
dren have  not  less  of  criminality,  and  more  of  meanness, 
than  the  same  offenses  perpetrated  against  contemporai'ies."* 

This  was  written  but  forty  years  ago,  and  so  belongs  to 
the  present ;  but  the  sentiment  was  scarcely  less  true  of  Mas- 
sachusetts two  hundred  years  before. 

New  England  early  adopted,  and  has,  with  a  single  ex- 

*  Sec  his  "  Lectures,"  vol.  ii,  p.  549.    (Eeport  for  1846.) 


44  THE  COLONUL  PERIOD. 

ception,  constantly  maintained  the  principle  that  the  public 
should  provide  for  the  instruction  of  all  the  youth.  That 
which  elsewhere,  as  will  be  found,  was  left  to  local  provision, 
as  in  New  York ;  or  to  charity,  as  in  Pennsylvania  ;  or  to 
parental  interest,  as  in  Virginia,  was  in  most  parts  of  New 
England  early  secured  by  law.  "  For  the  purpose  of  public 
instruction,"  said  Daniel  Webster,  "  we  have  held,  and  do 
hold,  every  man  subject  to  taxation  in  proportion  to  his  prop- 
erty ;  and  we  look  not  to  the  question  whether  he  himself 
have  or  have  not  children,  to  be  benefited  by  the  education 
for  which  he  pays."  That  it  was  not  always  so  only  serves 
to  define  the  growth  of  the  educational  idea.  The  act  of 
1642  in  Massachusetts,  whose  provisions  were  adopted  in 
most  of  the  adjacent  colonies,  was  admirable  as  a  first  legis- 
lative school  law.  It  was  watchful  of  the  neglect  of  parents, 
and  looked  well  after  the  ignorant  and  the  indigent.  But 
it  neither  made  schooling  free,  nor  imposed  a  penalty  for  its 
neglect.  It  provided  employment  for  the  idle,  and  so  early 
recognized  the  dependence  of  social  institutions  upon  in- 
dividual thrift ;  it  admitted  the  force  of  intelligent  citizen- 
ship, and  sought  to  make  the  school  also  serve  the  uses  of 
the  State,  enjoining  upon  all  towns  provision  for  universal 
education.  The  spirit  of  the  law  was  progressive.  But 
schools  were  largely  maintained  by  rates,  were  free  only  to 
the  necessitous,  and  in  not  a  few  of  the  less  populoas  districts 
closed  altogether  or  never  opened.  This  led,  five  years  later, 
to  more  stringent  legislation. 

1.  The  Massachusetts  Law  of  1647. 

As  the  Colonial  Assembly,  in  the  founding  of  Harvard, 
was  moved  by  a  consideration  of  the  interests  of  the  Church, 
so  the  preamble  to  the  first  compulsory  common-school- 
enactment  of  Massachusetts  urged  the  necessities  of  the  relig- 
ious life  as  its  occasion.  As  suggesting  the  general  scope 
and  tenor  of  the  law,  the  following  extract  is  made : 

"  It  being  one  chief  project  of  that  old  deluder,  Satan,  to 
keep  men  from  the  knowledge  of  the  Scriptures,  as,  in  former 


COLONIAL  SCHOOL  SYSTEMS.  45 

times,  keeping  them  in  an  unknown  tongTie,  so  in  these  later 
times,  by  persuading  from  the  use  of  tongues;  so  that  at 
last  the  true  sense  and  meaning  of  the  original  might  be 
clouded  and  corrupted  with  false  glosses  of  deceivers ;  and  to 
the  end  that  learning  may  not  be  buried  in  the  graves  of  our 
fore-fathers,  in  church  and  commonwealth,  the  Lord  assist- 
ing our  endeavors :  It  is  therefore  ordered  by  this  Court  and 
authority  thereof  that  every  township  withia  this  jurisdic- 
tion, after  the  Lord  hath  increased  them  to  the  number  of 
fifty  householders,  shall  then  forthwith  appoint  one  within 
their  town  to  teach  all  such  children  as  shall  resort  to  him, 
to  write  and  read ;  whose  wages  shall  be  paid,  either  by  the 
parents  or  masters  of  such  children,  or  by  the  inhabitants  in 
general,  by  way  of  supply,  as  the  major  part  of  those  who 
order  the  prudentials  of  the  town  shall  appoint;  provided, 
that  those  who  send  their  children  be  not  oppressed  by  pay- 
ing much  more  than  they  can  have  them  taught  for  in.  the 
adjoining  towns. 

"  And  it  is  further  ordered  that  where  any  town  shall  in- 
crease to  the  number  of  one  hundred  families  or  house- 
holders, they  shall  set  up  a  grammar-school,  the  master 
thereof  being  able  to  instruct  youths  so  far  as  they  may  be 
fitted  for  the  university ;  and  if  any  town  neglect  the  per- 
formance hereof,  above  one  year,  then  every  such  town  shall 
pay  five  pounds  per  annum  to  the  next  such  school,  till  they 
shall  perform  this  order."  * 

In  this  law,  it  is  evident,  the  school  system  of  Mas- 
sachusetts had  its  birth.  Schools  did  not  spring  up  all  at 
once,  and  throughout  the  State ;  nor  were  all  of  equal  eflS.- 
ciency ;  the  school  course  was  not  yet  fixed ;  resources  were 
limited ;  teachers  were  poorly  prepai*ed ;  there  were  no  ele- 
mentary texts  and  no  school  organization.  With  every 
possible  support  of  the  law,  there  were  many  hindrances. 
As  a  matter  of  fact,  if  perhaps  Sweden  be  excepted,  there 
was  no  precedent  in  the  world's  history  for  such  universal 

*  "  Massacliusetts  Colonial  Eecords,"  vol  li,  p.  203. 
4 


4G  THE  COLONIAL  PERIOD. 

education,  through  the  agency  of  free  schools  as  a  civil  in- 
stitution. The  attempt  must  have  seemed,  to  the  nations 
looking  on,  as  the  irrational  presumption  of  a  youthful 
colony. 

The  law  was  a  public  measure  and  sought  the  schooling 
of  all:  not  the  poor  alone,  or  of  preference;  nor  select 
schools  for  the  sons  of  ministers  and  magistrates  ;  nor 
family  schools;  but  common  schools,  upon  the  principle, 
then  efficient,  but  formulated  later,  that  "  they  must  be  cheap 
enough  for  all,  and  good  enough  for  the  best."  It  should  be 
noted  that  the  law  makes  provision  for  grammar-schools; 
that  is  for  schools  which  should  give  instruction  in  Latin  and 
Greek ;  and,  indeed,  in  whatever  should  be  necessary  to  fit 
young  men  to  enter  Harvard.  They  belonged  to  a  type  of  pre- 
paratory school,  characteristic  of  New  England,  the  original 
of  the  best  modern  secondary  institution.  Still  further,  the 
law  was  mandatory ;  a  penalty  was  attached  for  a  town's 
neglect.  The  original  forfeit,  five  pounds,  was  increased  in 
1671, 1683,  and  1718,  successively,  to  correspond  with  the  in- 
creasing wealth  of  the  towns,  to  a  penalty  of  sixty  pounds 
for  a  town  of  three  hundred  families.* 

*  Mr.  Joseph  B.  Felt,  in  his  '*  Historical  Account  of  Massachusetts 
Currency,"  has  been  at  some  pains  to  estimate  the  relative  cost  to  the  com- 
munity of  these  forfeitures,  measured  by  the  community's  resources.  It  is 
known  that,  in  early  American  times,  grains  were  used  as  tender  in  payment 
of  debts.  New  Haven  for  many  years  paid  her  annual  quota  to  Harvard  by 
sending  "  one  peck  of  wheat  to  each  man."  For  the  payment  of  obliga- 
tions, the  law  fixed  the  value  of  the  product  in  terms  of  its  standard  unit. 
The  average  rate  for  Indian  com  for  the  last  half  of  the  seventeenth  cent- 
ury (the  period  under  consideration),  Mr.  Felt  estimates  at  less  than  three 
shillings  per  bushel.  To  pay  a  fine,  therefore,  of  sixty  pounds,  to  which  a 
town  of  three  hundred  families  was  liable,  would  require  four  hundred  and 
twenty-three  bushels.  At  sixpence  a  day  (the  wages  provided  by  law, 
1630,  and  in  force  many  years),  it  would  take  a  man  forty  days  to  pay  a 
fine  of  one  pound.  The  penalty  imposed  upon  towns  by  the  law  of  1647, 
was  five  pounds  ;  equivalent,  at  the  above  rate,  to  the  work  of  a  common 
laborer  for  two  hundred  davs. 


COLONIAL  SCHOOL  SYSTEMS.  47 

S.  The  Connecticut  Code  of  1650. 

Three  years  after  the  law  just  cited  Connecticut  passed  a 
very  similar  one.  A  difference  will  be  seen  in  the  reasons 
assigned  for  the  enactments  in  the  two  colonies ;  and  it  is  a 
significant  fact  that  the  "  indifference  and  indulgence  of 
many  parents  and  masters "  is  made  a  sufficient  reason  for 
the  colony's  interference  in  the  interest  of  the  child. 

This  enactment  continued  in  force,  substantially  un- 
changed, until  the  close  of  the  last  century,  and,  excepting 
that  of  Massachusetts,  marks  out  the  only  system  of  schools 
during  the  colonial  history.  It  is  given  almost  entire,  first 
as  a  means  of  comparative  study,  and  as  a  specimen  also  of 
the  severe  ethical  standards  of  the  day : 

"  Forasmuch  as  the  good  education  of  children  is  of  sin- 
gular behoof  and  benefit  to  any  commonwealth,  and  whereas 
many  parents  and  masters  are  too  indulgent  and  negligent 
of  their  duty  in  that  kind:  It  is  therefore  ordered  by  this 
Court  and  the  authority  thereof,  that  the  selectmen  of  every 
town,  in  the  several  precincts  and  quarters  where  they  dwell, 
shall  have  a  vigilant  eye  over  their  brethren  and  neighbors, 
to  see  first :  that  none  of  them  shall  suffer  so  much  barbar- 
ism in  any  of  their  families,  as  not  to  endeavor  to  teach,  by 
themselves  or  othei-s,  their  children  and  apprentices,  so  much 
learning,  as  may  enable  them  perfectly  to  read  the  English 
tongue,  and  knowledge  of  the  capital  laws,  upon  penalty  of 
twenty  shillings  for  each  neglect  therein :  also  that  all  mas- 
ters of  families  do  once  a  week  at  least,  catechise  their  chil- 
dren and  servants  in  the  grounds  and  principles  of  religion, 
and  if  any  be  not  able  to  do  so  much,  that  then,  at  the  least, 
they  procure  such  children  or  apprentices,  to  learn  some 
short,  orthodox  catechism,  without  book,  that  they  may  be 
able  to  answer  to  the  questions  that  shall  be  propounded  to 
them  out  of  such  catechism  by  their  parents  or  masters,  or 
any  of  the  selectmen  when  they  shall  call  them  to  a  trial  of 
what  they  have  learned  in  this  kind.  And  further  that  all 
parents  and  masters  do  breed  and  bring  up  their  children 


48  THE  COLONIAL  PERIOD. 

and  apprentices  in  some  honest,  lawful  calling,  labor,  or  em- 
ployment, either  in  husbandry  or  some  other  trade  profitable 
for  themselves  and  the  commonwealth,  if  they  will  not,  nor 
can  not,  train  them  up  in  learning  to  fit  them  for  higher 
employments  :  and  if  any  of  the  selectmen,  after  admonition 
by  them  given  to  such  masters  of  families  shall  find  them 
still  negligent  of  their  duty,  in  the  particular  aforemen- 
tioned, whereby  children  and  servants  become  rude,  stub- 
bom  and  unruly,  the  said  selectmen  with  the  help  of  two 
magistrates,  shall  take  such  children  or  apprentices  from 
them,  and  place  them  with  some  masters — boys  till  they 
come  to  twenty-one,  and  girls  to  eighteen  years  of  age  com- 
plete— which  will  more  strictly  look  unto,  and  force  them  to 
submit  unto  government,  according  to  the  rules  of  this  or- 
der, if  by  fair  means  and  former  instruction  they  will  not  be 
drawn  into  it."* 

In  addition  to  the  provisions  quoted,  the  code  required  of 
every  town  of  fifty  families  an  elementary  school,  and  every 
town  of  one  hundred  families  a  grammar-school,  as  provided 
in  the  Massachusetts  law. 

The  enactment  in  the  colony  of  New  Haven  (1655)  was 
very  similar  to  this,  differing  perhaps  only  in  being,  if  eqvial- 
ly  considerate,  more  exacting.  The  same  watchful  eye  over 
their  brethren  was  enjoined  upon  the  deputies  of  the  Court 
or  other  officers.  Negligent  parents  and  masters  were  to  be 
warned,  and,  if  still  remiss,  pay  a  double  fine.  For  a  third 
offense  the  Court  might  "  proceed  to  a  greater  fine,"  or,  "  tak- 
ing security  for  due  conformity  to  the  scope  and  intent  of 
the  law,"  might  take  such  children  or  apprentices  and  bind 
them  out  "  both  for  the  public  conveniency,  and  for  the  par- 
ticular good  of  the  children  and  apprentices." 

Ten  years  afterward  the  two  colonies  were  united,  the 
Connecticut  "  code  of  1650 "  becoming  operative  for  the 
whole  province.     The  law  was  revised  when  the  civil  or- 

*  Extract  from  Code  of  Laws,  1650,  paraj^ph  19, "  Colonial  Becords  of 
Connecticut,"  p.  620. 


COLONIAL  SCHOOL  SYSTEMS.  49 

ganization  was  perfected  (1672),  each  of  the  four  county 
towns,  irrespective  of  population,  being  required  to  maintain 
a  grammar-school. 

Elementary  schools  were  later  required  of  towns  having 
thirty  families,  and  in  those  of  seventy  householders  must 
continue  eleven  months  in  the  year. 

It  was  a  vigorous  system  among  a  thrifty  and  self-deny- 
ing people.  It  betrays  no  loose  sentiment  of  tender-hearted 
indulgence.  Children  should  be  brought  up,  not  left  to 
grow  up.  It  was  the  steraest  kindness,  pai'ticipation  in 
whose  benefits  was  incident  to  citizenship.* 

These  laws  of  Massachusetts  and  Connecticut  t  remained 
in  force  for  many  years — of  the  former  practically  till  the 
State  Constitution  of  1780,  of  the  latter  eighteen  years  longer, 
until  school  societies  and  petty  districts  were  formed. 

S.  Other  New  England  Schools  and  Teachers. 

In  Rhode  Island  there  was  no  attempt  at  a  school  system 
prior  to  the  efPorts  of  John  Howland  about  1790.     There 

*  As  illustrating  further  the  severity  of  the  ethical  idea  current  at  the 
period,  two  extracts  are  presented  from  the  capital  laws  of  the  colony  of 
the  same  date : 

"  Sec.  14.  If  any  child  or  children  above  sixteen  years  old  and  of  suffi- 
cient understanding,  shall  curse  or  smite  their  natural  father  or  mother,  he 
or  they  shall  be  put  to  death  ;  unless  it  can  be  sufficiently  testified  that  the 
parents  have  been  very  unchristianly  negligent  in  the  education  of  such 
children,  or  so  provoked  them  by  extreme  and  cruel  correction,  that  they 
have  been  forced  thereunto,  to  preserve  themselves  from  death  or  maiming. 

"  Sec.  15.  If  any  man  has  a  stubborn  or  rebellious  son  of  sufficient  im- 
derstanding  and  years,  viz.,  sixteen  years  of  age,  which  "will  not  obey  the 
voice  of  his  father  or  the  voice  of  his  mother,  and  when  they  have  chastised 
him,  he  will  not  hearken  unto  them ;  then  may  his  father  or  his  mother, 
being  his  natural  parents,  lay  hold  on  him  and  bring  him  to  the  magistrates 
assembled  in  the  court,  and  testify  to  them  that  their  son  is  stubborn  and 
rebellious  and  will  not  obey  their  voice  and  chastisement,  but  lives  in  sun- 
dry notorious  crimes ;  such  a  son  shall  be  put  to  death." 

t  "  Blue  Laws,  True  and  False,"  by  J.  H.  Trumbull  (1876),  is  an  excel- 
lent exposition  of  the  spirit  of  discipline  and  its  consequences,  in  early  Con- 
necticut. 


50  THE  COLONIAL  PERIOD. 

were  schools  in  both  Providence  and  Newport;  but  the  col- 
ony was  small  (witli  a  population  of  less  than  ten  thousand 
in  1700),  broken  into  feeble  settlements,  and  offering  little 
opportunity  for  organization.  Up  to  1820,  as  a  matter  of 
course,  the  school  history  of  Maine  was  the  same  as  that  of 
Massachusetts,  from  which  it  was  then  set  off  as  a  separate 
State.  A  like  remark  may  be  made  of  New  Hampshire. 
United  with  Massachusetts  in  1641,  it  was  subject  to  the  law 
of  that  colony  until  1693,  when,  having  become  an  inde- 
pendent province,  and  copying  the  spirit  of  the  Massachu- 
setts system,  the  selectmen  of  the  towns  were  required  to 
raise  money  "by  equal  rate  and  assessment  on  all  the  in- 
habitants for  the  support  of  schools,"  the  penalty  being  put 
at  twenty  pounds.  In  Vermont,  as  the  first  white  settlement 
dates  from  1724,  no  schools  were  maintained  during  the 
period  other  than  occasional  and  chance  ones. 

Education  to  the  New  England  of  this  period  was  a  pub- 
lic responsibility —  part  of  an  exacting  religious  duty. 
Viewed  from  the  individual  side,  it  was  to  many  a  privilege. 
It  claimed  the  public's  second  attention ;  and,  next  to  the 
pulpit,  commanded  the  best  talent  in  every  settlement. 

Among  the  New  England  teachers  there  were  men  of 
both  learning  and  ability.  Not  a  more  cultured  body  of 
men  ever  formed  a  colony  than  settled  about  Boston,  Salem, 
New  Haven,  and  Hartford.  They  coveted  the  best  advan- 
tages for  their  children,  frequently  making  the  best  men 
their  teachers.  It  is  on  record  that  of  the  twenty-two  mas- 
ters of  Plymouth  from  1671  to  the  Kevolution,  twenty  were 
graduates  of  Harvard.  The  like  was  true  of  Roxbury.* 
Such  men,  next  to  the  functionaries  of  church  and  state, 
commanded  the  highest  respect.    In  the  churches,  they  had 

*  It  was  this  school  whose  memory  has  been  perpetuated  in  the  "  Free 
School  of  1645  in  Roxbury,"  by  C.  K.  Dillaway;  and  of  which  Cotton 
Mather  said,  "  It  had  afforded  more  scholars,  first  for  the  college,  and  then 
for  the  public,  than  nny  town  of  its  bigness,  or,  if  I  mistake  not,  of  twice  its 
bigness,  in  all  New  England." 


COLONIAL  SCHOOL  SYSTEMS.  51 

special  pews  provided  for  their  use  beside  those  of  magis- 
trates and  the  deacon's  family.  In  every  community  was 
usually  one  who  was  the  teacher  professionally,  so  consid- 
ered as  much  as  was  the  minister  or  physician.  But,  among 
them  all,  Ezekiel  Cheever  stood,  and  stands  pre-eminent. 

Born*  in  1614,  he  came  to  this  country  at  the  age  of 
twenty-three,  joining  Eaton  and  Davenport  at  New  Haven 
the  year  following.  Here  he  taught  twelve  years,  first  in 
the  free  schools,  and  later  in  the  grammar-school,  with  a 
"  scholarship  and  force  of  personal  character  which  left  a 
permanent  mark  on  the  educational  policy  of  New  Haven." 
For  eleven  years  he  taught  at  Ipswich,  nine  years  at 
Charlestown,  and  thirty-eight  years  as  master  of  the  Boston 
Latin  School.  Cotton  Mather  links  his  name  with  that  of 
Master  Corlett's,  in  the  couplet : 

"  'Tis  Corlett's  pains  and  Cheever's,  we  must  own, 
That  thou,  New  England,  art  not  Scythia  grown." 

Mr.  Cheever  was  the  author  of  an  "  Introduction  to  the 
Latin  Tongue,"  popularly  known  as  the  "  Latin  Accidence," 
which  was  the  hand-book  of  Latin  instruction  in  New  Eng- 
land for  more  than  a  century.  President  Quincy  said  of  it: 
"  For  simplicity,  comprehensiveness,  and  exactness,  I  do  not 
believe  it  is  exceeded  by  any  other  work."  Under  his  guid- 
ance, the  Boston  Latin  School  became  the  principal  classical 
institution,  not  only  of  Massachusetts  Bay,  and  New  Eng- 
land, but,  according  to  Dr.  Prince,  "  of  the  British  colonies, 
if  not  of  all  America." 

He  died  in  1708,  aged  ninety-four,  after  having  taught 
seventy  years. 

Women  were  not  formally  recognized  as  teachers  until 
after  the  Revolution,  not  generally  so  till  late  in  the  present 
century,  though  dame's  schools  were  not  infrequent  through 
all  the  earlier  period. 

*  For  an  extended  and  appreciative  biography  of  Mr.  Cheever,  see 
"American  Journal  of  Education,"  vol.  i,  p.  297. 


52  THE  COLONIAL  PERIOD. 

Salaries  varied,  much  as  they  do  now.  Exceptional 
ability  always  commanded  extra  remuneration.  In  consid- 
ering this  question  it  must  be  remembered  that  schools  then 
continued,  nominally,  twelve  months  in  the  year  ;  the  sala- 
ries, ranging  from  two  pounds,  paid  to  Thomas  Fox,  in  New- 
port, some  time  before  1700,  to  sixty  pounds  paid  Ezekiel 
Cheever  (1670)  as  Master  of  the  Boston  Latin  School.  Mr. 
Barnard  is  authority  for  the  statement  that  previous  to  1800 
the  wages  of  a  master  varied  from  four  to  ten  dollars  per 
month,  besides  board,  which  was  generally  "given."  Mis- 
tresses received  from  fifty  cents  to  a  dollar  and  a  half  per 
week,  and  board. 

The  kind  and  amount  of  instruction  have  already  been 
broadly  marked  out  for  the  whole  of  New  England  by  the 
legislation  quoted.  The  classics  required  in  the  grammar- 
schools  were,  no  doubt,  well  taught.  But  the  elementary 
instruction,  limited  to  reading,  spelling,  writing,  and  the 
simplest  calculations,  was  very  meager.  Its  content  can 
best  be  shown  perhaps  by  enumerating  the  school-books 
used.  Prior  to  1665,  Richard  Mather's  Catechism  *  was, 
aside  from  the  Bible,  almost  the  only  one  known.  Then, 
and  later,  the  New  Testament  was  in  common  use  ;  and 
the  Psalter,  containing — 1,  the  Psalms;  2,  Proverbs;  3,  the 
Sermon  on  the  Mount ;  and  4,  the  Nicene  Creed.  The 
Horn-Book  was  very  early  employed  in  this  coimtry,  as 
it  was  in  England,  while  the  historical  "New  England 
Primer"  was  not  introduced  until  near  the  close  of  the 
seventeenth  century,  then  taking  the  place  of  the  Cate- 
chism. 

By  these  books  was  determined  the  organization  of  the 
schools,  as  follows  : 


•  "  A  Catechism,  on  the  Grounds  and  Principles  of  the  Christian  Belig- 
ion,  set  forth  by  question  and  answer,  wherein  the  summe  of  the  Doctrine  of 
Religion  is  comprised,  familiarly  opened,  and  cleariy  confirmed  from  the 
Holy  Scriptures.  By  Richard  Mather,  Teacher  to  the  Church  in  Dorches- 
ter in  New  England,  1650." 


COLONIAL  SCHOOL  SYSTEMS.  53 

1.  Psalter  class — beginners. 

2.  Testament  class. 

3.  Bible  class. 

Of  the  education  of  girls  almost  no  mention  is  made, 
though  they  were  now  and  then  admitted  to  the  dame's 
schools. 

^.  New  York  prior  to  the  Revolution. 

Outside  the  localities  already  described,  there  was  little 
tliat  could  be  dignified  by  the  name  of  school  system, 
though  here  and  there,  as  in  the  early  days  of  New  Eng- 
land, regard  was  had  for  education  both  elementary  and 
advanced,  with  like  courses  of  study  and  in  the  same  texts. 

It  is  claimed  that,  at  the  surrender  of  the  Dutch  in  New 
York  (1664),  so  general  was  the  educational  spirit,  almost 
every  town  in  the  colony  had  its  regular  school  and  more  or 
less  permanent  teachers.  After  the  occupation  of  the  prov- 
ince by  the  English,  little  attention  was  given  to  education  ; 
the  settlers  were  robbed  of  their  revenues ;  and  the  new  gov- 
ernment was  not  forward  to  aid  Dutch  schools  in  the  control 
of  a  nonconforming  church.  While  many  of  the  parochial 
schools  were  broken  up,  that  in  New  York  city  insisted  on 
its  chartered  rights,  maintained  its  privileges,  and  is  still 
in  existence.  Thirteen  years  after  the  surrender,  a  Latin 
school  was  opened  in  the  city  ;  but  the  first  serious  at- 
tempt to  provide  regular  schooling  was  in  the  work  of  the 
"  Society  for  the  Propagation  of  the  Gospel "  (1704)  in  the 
founding  of  Trinity  School.  The  society  kept  up  an  effi- 
cient organization,  for  many  years,  and  at  the  opening  of 
the  Revolution  had  established  and  chiefly  supported  more 
than  twenty  schools  in  the  colony.  About  1732,  also,  there 
was  established  in  New  York  city  a  school  after  the  plan  of 
the  Boston  Latin  School,  free  as  that  was  free,  and  which 
became,  according  to  eminent  authority,*  the  germ  of  the 
later  King's  (now  Columbia)  College. 

*  "  New  York  Colonial  Manuscripts,"  vol.  viii,  p.  486. 


54  THE  COLOxVIAL  PERIOD. 

From  all  which  it  would  appear  that  while  the  Dutch  set- 
tlers in  New  York  were  earnest  in  the  support  of  their  princi- 
pal schools,  the  English  officials,  either  in  London  or  in  the 
province,  showed  little  interest  in  the  matter.  The  whole 
attitude  was  in  sharp  contrast  to  what  was  found  in  New  Kng- 
land.  Rev.  Dr.  Samuel  Johnson,  President  of  King's  College, 
writing  (1762)  to  the  English  archbishop,  complained  that, 
when  royal  patents  were  granted  for  large  tracts  of  colonial 
land,  "no  provision  was  made  for  religion  and  schools." 
These,  he  insisted,  should  be  encouraged,  whatever  else  be 
neglected.  It  is  safe  to  say  that,  prior  to  the  Revolution, 
hundreds  of  acres  had  been  appropriated  in  New  England 
for  schools,  and  in  Virginia  many  thousands. 

In  one  other  reopect,  also,  the  educational  influences  in 
the  two  sections  were  dlffei-ent.  Lieutenant-Governor  C!ol- 
den,  petitioning  for  aid  for  King's  College,  seeing  "  that  dis- 
senters from  the  Church  of  England  had  the  sole  education, 
not  only  in  seminaries  of  learning  in  New  England,  but  like- 
wise in  New  Jersey  and  elsewhere,"  argued  that  it  was 
"highly  requisite  that  a  seminary  founded  on  the  princi- 
ples of  the  Church  of  England  be  distinguished  in  America 
by  particular  privileges  ;  not  only  on  account  of  religfion, 
but  of  good  policy,  to  prevent  the  growth  of  republican 
principles  which  already  too  much  prevail  in  the  colonies." 

5.  Pennsylvania  prior  to  the  Revolution. 

Here,  as  in  the  last-mentioned  colony,  no  system  of 
schools  existed  untU  the  present  century.  In  this  province, 
however,  some  attempts  at  education  are  worthy  to  be  noted, 
both  because  of  occasional  individual  success,  and  the  fact 
that,  in  the  social  and  civil  conditions  of  that  period,  recent 
educational  sentiments  have  received  their  impulses.* 

The  original  draught  of  the  Penn  Colony  charter  required 

*  In  Sypher'B  "  School  History  of  Pennsylvania,"  chap,  xxxvi,  on 
"  Education,"  is  a  very  satisfactory  Bummaiy  of  the  Bchools  and  school 
legislation  of  the  colonial  period. 


COLONIAL  SCHOOL  SYSTEMS.  55 

that  the  Governor  and  Provincial  Council  should  erect  and 
order  all  public  schools,  and  "  reward  the  authors  of  the  use- 
ful sciences  and  laudable  inventions  in  said  province."  In 
the  fifteen  years  following  the  settlement,  a  fcAV  schools  were 
opened  in  other  parts,  and  in  1698  the  Society  of  Friends 
established  one  in  Philadelphia.  This  was  the  now  famous 
Penn  Charter  School,  to  which  all  children  were  admitted, 
male  and  female,  even  servants  ;  and  provision  made  that 
while  the  children  of  the  rich  might  attend  at  reasonable 
rates,  "  the  poor  should  be  taught  gratis."  Though  a  Friends' 
school,  it  was  open  indiscriminately  to  children  of  all  de- 
nominations, and  for  fifty  years  was  the  only  public  school 
in  the  province. 

Near  the  middle  of  the  last  century  (1754),  urged  by  the 
interests  of  the  large  German  population  of  the  colony,  Dr. 
Franklin  and  others,  aided  by  contributions  from  Europe, 
were  instrumental  in  organizing  the  "  German  Society,"  in 
Philadelphia,  whose  purpose  was  "  to  found  and  maintain 
schools  for  the  numerous  children  of  German  settlers."  It 
had  a  long  service,  instructed  at  times  nearly  one  thousand 
pupils,  and  proved  a  powerful  civil  as  well  as  educational 
factor  in  the  development  of  the  colony. 

It  is  a  matter  of  history  that  the  Swedes  early  took  pos- 
session of  fertile  valleys  along  the  Delaware,  and  even  in 
proximity  to  the  mountains,  in  what  is  now  Pennsylvania. 
A  thrifty,  industrious  people,  they  acquired  property,  and 
exerted  a  far-reaching  influence  on  the  State's  institutions. 
Others  came — Hollanders  and  English,  Catholic  and  Prot- 
estant, Churchmen  and  Quakers.  A  book,*  descriptive  of 
the  Swedish  churches  of  this  section,  includes  a  characteriza- 
tion of  the  people  and  social  conditions  of  the  time,  which  is 
suggestive.  "  The  people,"  the  author  says,  "  are  a  mixture 
of  all  sorts  of  religious  belief  ;  the  schoolmasters  have  a  dif- 
ferent faith  from  their  pupils,  and  the  children,  in  like  man- 
ner, differ  from  each  other.    Hence,  Pennsylvania  is  known 

*  "History  of  New  Sweden,"  by  Israel  Acrelius,  p.  357. 


56  THE  COLONIAL  PERIOD. 

all  over  the  world  for  its  lamentable  destitution  and  defi- 
ciency in  the  instruction  of  its  children  in  the  knowledge  of 
Christianity."  Forty  years  before,  about  1725,  his  people, 
he  claimed,  scarcely  knew  what  a  school  was.  "While  this 
will  be  admitted,  or  it  should  be,  as  an  exaggeration,  it  is  still 
only  an  exaggeration  of  an  actual  state,  having  a  foundation 
in  fact,  that  persisted  through  the  colonial  period.  A  hetero- 
geneous population,  and  the  idea  that  public  education  was 
a  form  of  charity,  obstructed  schools  generally.* 

Among  all  the  early  teachers  of  the  province,  the  reputa- 
tion of  none  is  more  worthy  to  be  perpetuated  than  that  of 
Christopher  Dock.  A  simple  but  scholarly  man,  a  Mennon- 
ite  and  teacher,  exceedingly  conscientious,  little  acquainted 
with  the  ways  of  the  world,  but  devoted  to  his  school,  he 
acquired  a  reputation  as  an  instructor  and  companion  of  the 
young  that,  if  the  record  of  his  hfe  be  true,  makes  him  a 
veritable  Pestalozzi  in  his  way.  He  taught  for  many  years 
in  Germantown ;  then,  dividing  his  time  with  a  neighboring 
village,  gave  three  days  to  the  one  and  two  to  the  other  each 
week,  and  so  continued  for  twelve  years. 

His  life  is  historical,  though  little  known.  He  used  a 
blackboard  as  early  as  1725,  instructed  in  music,  and  had  a 
well-developed  method  of  primary  numbers.  He  was  an 
author  a  century  and  a  half  ago,  and  one  of  the  fathers 
of  American  pedagogy.  His  "  Schul-ordnung,"  t  published 
about  the  middle  of  the  century,  must  have  seemed  to  most 
of  his  contemporaries  very  strange  and  unreal,  so  modem 
and  orthodox  it  seems  now.  Mr.  Dock  is  an  excellent  repre- 
sentative of  the  best  colonial  Pennsylvania  teaching  every- 
where. Service  and  success  were  individual,  intermittent, 
and  local.     There  was  no  system,  no  uniformity. 

*  Of  successful  private  and  church  schools  there  were  some  excellent 
examples.  Prominent  among  these  were  those  of  tlio  Moravians  and  Qua- 
kers. Most  German  settlements  had  schools;  of  public  schools  there 
were  none. 

t  See  page  149. 


COLONIAL  SCHOOL  SYSTEMS.  57 

6.  New  Jersey  prior  to  the  Revolution. 

Although  the  settlers  of  New  Jersey,  Delaware,  and  Penn- 
sylvania, were  of  similar  tastes  and  antecedents,  and  one 
would  expect  a  kindred  educational  history,  they  are  found 
to  differ  greatly.  Schools  were  established  in  Newark,  and 
(1683)  an  island  in  the  Delaware  Eiver  was  appropriated  to 
education  in  the  Burlington  settlement,  the  revenue  from 
which  by  rent  or  sale  was  to  be  enjoyed  "  by  all  the  fami- 
lies equally."  The  fund  is  certainly  one  of  the  oldest  per- 
manent school-funds  in  America,  the  income  of  which  is  yet 
enjoyed  by  the  town. 

Ten  years  later  (1693)  a  general  law  was  passed,  legalizing 
schools  in  any  town  of  the  colony,  "the  consent  of  the  major 
part  of  the  inhabitants  to  be  binding  upon  all,"  to  pay  their 
shares  for  the  maintenance  of  a  school,  "  even  to  the  distress 
of  their  goods  and  chattels.''^  This  seems  equal  to  the  best 
New  England  interest,  and  was  withal  thoroughly  republi- 
can. Within  ten  years  schools  had  been  established  in  all 
the  counties,  and,  for  a  sparse  and  pioneer  population,  were 
generously  supported.  But  the  law,  at  best,  was  only  per- 
missive, and  subject  to  annual  defeat  in  each  comimunity. 
There  was  no  permanence,  and  for  more  than  a  century  no 
further  attempt  to  perfect  a  system  of  schools. 

In  New  Jersey  also,  as  in  Pennsylvania,  what  is  most 
significant  of  the  general  condition  is  the  individual  service 
rendered  by  the  occasional  teacher.  Typical  of  the  whole- 
some but  unorganized  educational  spirit,  and  the  uafluences 
that  were  working,  were  the  labors  of  Rev.  William  Tennent. 
An  Irishman  by  birth,  a  clergyman  by  profession,  a  teacher 
of  choice,  and  liberally  educated,  he  probably  did  more  to 
shape  the  first  sentiments  of  culture  and  morality  about  him 
than  all  others  combined.  After  preaching  for  a  Presby- 
terian congregation  in  New  York,  and  later  in  Bucks  County, 
Pennsylvania,  he  was  called  (1726)  to  the  charge  at  Nesham- 
iny,  twenty  miles  north  of  Philadelphia,  where  he  soon 
established  what  has  come  to  be  known,  through  the  writ- 


58  THE  COLONIAL  PERIOD. 

ings  of  George  Whitefleld  and  others,  as  the  "  Log  College." 
In  a  rude  school-house,  uncomely  and  secluded,  the  reputa- 
tion of  his  great  work  is  justified,  as  that  of  any  school,  by 
its  service  to  society.  Mr.  Tennent  was  a  classical  scholar, 
conversing  in  Latin  with  the  ease  of  his  vernacular,  and 
proficient  in  other  languages  as  well.  He  is  described  as  a 
man  of  integrity  and  industry,  with  great  piety,  and  drawing 
students  from  adjoining  provinces.  He  taught  for  twenty 
years,  most  of  the  time  in  the  "  Log  College,"  *  the  germ  of 
the  now  famous  Princeton,  the  College  of  New  Jersey . 

7.  Colonial  Education  in  the  South. 

The  colonies  of  the  South  were  settled,  on  the  whole,  quite 
as  early  as  those  farther  north — Virginia  and  New  York 
about  the  same  time ;  South  Carolina  a  dozen  years  before 
Pennsylvania.  Maryland  made  a  permanent  settlement  a 
year  before  the  Boston  Latin  School.  Elxcept  Georgia,  then, 
lateness  of  colonization  can  not  be  urged  as  a  reason  for  de- 
lay in  establishing  schools.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  however, 
there  was  no  school  system  in  any  colony  south  of  Connecti- 
cut before  the  Revolution,  and  no  enterprise  of  the  kind  to 
speak  of  before  the  present  century.  As  elsewhere,  there 
were  isolated  and  transient  schools,  throughout  the  provinces, 
which  had  a  commendable  influence  in  forming  public  sen- 
timent. In  both  Virginia  and  South  Carolina,  however,  the 
sons  of  those  who  could  afford  it  were  sent  abroad  to  be  edu- 
cated, or  put  under  tutors  at  home ;  and  parents,  assisted  by 
settled  clergymen,  and  an  occasional  transient  teacher,  fur- 
nished all  the  elementary  instruction  of  the  period. 

Indeed,  it  was  a  part  of  the  policy  of  the  colonies,  charac- 
teristic of  the  class  who  settled  them,  though  not  unknown 
also  in  Rhode  Island,  Delaware,  and  Pennsylvania,  to  leave 
elementary  instruction  to  the  family.  Of  Rhode  Island, 
Mr.  Barnard  says,  "  Her  people  tolerated  no  legislative  inteiv 

♦  See  a  sketch  of  the  "  Log  College  and  its  Founder,"  by  Archibald 
Alexander,  1851. 


COLONIAL  SCHOOL  SYSTEMS.  59 

ference  with  religfious  belief  or  practice,  or  with  the  education 
of  children,  which,  like  religion,  was  considered  strictly  a  pa- 
rental and  individual  duty."  When  the  English  Commission- 
ers of  Foreign  Plantations  asked  what  course  was  taken  in 
Virginia  for  instructing  the  people  in  the  Christian  religion, 
Governor  Berkeley  replied,  "  The  same  that  is  taken  in  Eng- 
land out  of  towns,  every  man  according  to  his  ability  in- 
structing his  children."  But  he  also  added,  what  has  become 
historic,  though  little  understood  in  its  connections  :  "  I 
thank  God  there  are  no  free  schools  nor  printing-presses, 
and  I  hope  we  shall  not  have  them  these  hundred  years ;  for 
learning  has  brought  disobedience,  and  heresy,  and  sects  into 
the  world,  and  pi-inting  has  divulged  them  and  libels  against 
the  best  of  governments :  God  keep  us  from  both ! "  And 
the  hope  of  Berkeley  was  fulfilled,  for  he  spoke  in  1671,  and 
there  was  no  system  of  schools  in  Virginia  attempted  before 
Thomas  Jefferson. 

There  was  one  school  in  South  CaroHna  whose  founding 
and  career  are  deserving  of  mention.  It  was  the  Dorchester 
Seminary,  established  by  a  body  of  Massachusetts  Congrega- 
tionalists  who  colonized  in  the  South  about  1734.  This 
seemed  more  like  the  New  England  academy  than  any 
other  school  in  that  section ;  and,  with  the  four  other  gram- 
mar-schools claimed  for  the  colony,  probably  justified  Mr. 
Ramsay's  assertion  that,  "  from  this  time,  all  who  wanted 
might  find  in  South  Carolina  the  best  of  classical  instruc- 
tion." 

The  Battle  Creek  School  of  Maryland,  also,  was  older 
even  than  this  last,  and  of  nearly  equal  rank,  and  was  the 
type,  both  in  function  and  organization,  of  the  later  county 
academies. 

It  can  not  be  said  that  any  of  the  colonies  were  indif- 
ferent to  education  of  any  grade,  any  more  than  they  were 
to  the  claims  of  religion  and  individual  honesty.  But  to 
some  of  them  these  were  not  matters  of  public  control.  It 
was  not  schools,  but  free  schools,  which  Governor  Berkeley 
denounced.     During  his  short  administration  he  was  more 


60  THE  COLONIAL  PERIOD. 

than  once  a  generous  subscriber  to  funds  for  private  acade- 
mies— a  policy  of  conduct  entirely  consistent  with  his  own 
and  the  South's  views  concerning  the  means  of  education ; 
consistent  too,  with  the  practice  of  all  the  colonies,  or  parts 
of  them  at  some  period,  even  in  New  England.  Only  seventy 
years  ago  in  Boston,  primary  instruction  was  first  made  pub- 
lic, and  elsewhere  even  later.  As  a  fact,  the  taking  on  of 
general  education  as  a  function  of  government  was  yet  an 
experiment,  well  into  the  present  century.  The  question  of 
how  much,  has  carried  with  it  a  multitude  of  others,  whose 
answers  are  the  way-marks  in  the  growth  of  American  edu- 
cational ideas. 

BiUiographij. 

The  only  comprehensive  reference  on  the  colonial  schools  and  school 
systems  is  Barnard's  "American  Journal  of  Education,"  begun  1855. 
Its  republication  of  original  papers,  legal  enactments,  and  early  educa- 
tional documents,  gives  it  a  peculiar  and  unquestioned  authority.  Con- 
sult also  "Ezekiel  Cheevcr  and  his  Descendants,"  in  "New  England 
Historical  Register,"  vol.  xxxiii,  p.  164,  and  "  Colonial  Education  in  the 
South,"  "  De  Bow's  Review,"  vol,  xx,  p.  622 ;  also  "  Local  Government 
and  Free  Schools  in  South  Carolina,"  by  B.  J.  Ramage,  1883. 


PART  SECOND. 
THE  EEVOLUTIONAKY  PERIOD. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

ELEMENTARY  EDUCATION  IN  THE  REVOLUTIONARY  PERIOD. 

From  tlie  first  yigorous  colonial  resistance  to  Englisli  ag- 
gression it  took  America  fifty  years  to  establish,  an  independ- 
ence among  nations.  The  Revolutionary  War  and  the  War 
of  1812  were  two  ciilminating  incidents  in  the  conflict. 
How  much  more  than  this  was  necessary  before  national 
equality  was  granted,  how  much  of  diplomacy  and  inven- 
tion, advancement  in  learning,  and  domestic  control,  can 
scarcely  be  estimated.  The  period  was  not  altogether  one 
of  revolution ;  but  the  ideas  and  the  type  of  men  dominant 
in  1783  ruled  still  in  civil  and  administrative  and  social 
affairs  for  a  quarter  of  a  century.  They  enacted  laws,  erected 
schools,  shaped  education,  and  gave  direction  to  sentiments 
of  industry  and  refinement  and  the  means  of  progress.  In  a 
history  of  culture,  the  period  of  the  Revolution  in  America 
may  be  said  to  include  the  War  of  1812.  Indeed,  the  next 
period,  that  of  reorganization,  can  not  be  said  to  have  had  a 
recognized  beginning  until  twenty-five  years  later  (1837). 

The  two  chapters  following  seek  to  sketch  the  conditions 
of  elementary,  secondary,  and  collegiate  education  during 
the  period  named. 
6 


C2  THE  REVOLUTIONARY  PERIOD. 

1.  ''^  Pauper  Schools.''^ 

Francis  Adams,  speaking  for  his  own  country,  recently 
(1875)  said:*  "Our  public  elementary  schools  of  England 
have  always  been  regarded  as  charitable  schools." 

The  same  idea  prevailed  for  many  years  in  this  country, 
in  Pennsylvania,  almost  wholly  throughout  the  South,  rare- 
ly in  the  West,  but  more  or  less  in  New  England,  though 
not  extensively  in  Massachusetts  and  Connecticut.  Rhode 
Island  held  that  elementary  instruction  might  not  safely  be 
interfered  with  by  the  State  except  in  the  interest  of  those 
who  were  unable  to  provide  for  their  own ;  and,  contradictory 
as  it  seems,  when  John  Rowland  and  his  mechanic  friends 
undertook  (1785)  to  establish  the  free  school  in  Rhode  Isl- 
and, it  was  objected  to  chiefly  "  by  the  poorer  sort  of  people," 

A  generation  later,  Governor  Hammond,  of  South  Caro- 
lina, in  his  annual  message,  animadverting  upon  the  com- 
mon schools,  but  evidently  speaking  in  the  atmosphere  of  a 
local  unfriendly  sentiment,  took  occasion  to  say :  "  The  free- 
school  system  has  failed.  Its  failure  is  owing  to  the  fact 
that  it  does  not  suit  our  people,  our  government,  our  insti- 
tutions. The  paupers  for  whose  children  it  is  intended  need 
them  at  home  to  work."t  The  sentiment  was  not  i)eculiar 
to  this  State :  Governor  Hammond  was  only  more  emphatic. 
In  half  the  original  colonies  the  idea  was  a  ruling  factor  in 
more  or  less  of  the  educational  leg^lation  through  the  early 
constitutional  period.  By  the  Maryland  act  of  1723,  and  fol- 
lowing, visitors  for  the  counties  were  empowered  to  select 
certain  children  to  be  taught  gratis.  The  literary  fund  of 
Virginia  (1810)  was  set  apart  for  the  exclusive  benefit  of  the 
poor,  as  was  a  si)ecial  Georgia  appropriation  of  two  hun- 
dred and  fifty  thousand  dollars  seven  years  later.  In  the 
same  year  also  New  Jersey  began  the  foundation  of   a 

•  "  Free  Schools  of  the  United  States,"  p.  52. 

t  Rev.  James  Fnuser's  report,  p.  10 ;  quoted  there  from  an  address  by 
Dr.  B.  G.  Northrop,  delivered  1864. 


ELEMENTARY  EDUCATION.  63 

school-fund,  but  almost  immediately  provided  for  an  op- 
tional taxation  of  townships  "  for  the  education  of  paupers," 
Even  Ohio,  as  late  as  1821,  attached  a  charity  clause,  and 
so  defeated  the  purjwse  of  an  otherwise  liberal  enactment. 
In  Pennsylvania,  also,  throughout  both  the  colonial  and 
the  early  constitutional  periods,  the  public-school  idea  was 
compassed  by  the  care  which  it  was  thought  the  State  should 
take  of  the  dependent  and  unfortunate  classes.  Public 
schools  in  the  early  history  of  Pennsylvania  were  "  pauper 
schools."  This  appeared  in  the  Penn  School,  Philadelphia, 
and  was  reaffirmed  in  the  Constitution  of  1790. 

Such  schools  raised  and  maintained  a  well-meant,  char- 
itably intended,  but  unfortunate  distinction  between  rich 
and  poor,  so  as  in  time  to  frustrate  the  design  of  the  schools 
and  the  generous  charity  of  their  founders.  The  poor  de- 
spised the  provision  as  a  public  badge  of  their  debasement ; 
the  wealthy  shunned  them  as  degrading.  That  this  was 
not  merely  the  bias  of  legislation  imposed  upon  the  public 
appears  in  the  constant  misinterpretation  of  the  spirit  and 
fiinction  of  the  common  schools  by  the  people  themselves. 
Not  till  far  into  the  present  century  was  even  Philadelphia 
freed  from  the  invidious  distinction,  while  the  emancipation 
of  the  rural  districts  came  later. 

Elsewhere  a  similar  antipathy  resulted  from  very  differ- 
ent conditions.  The  "school  fees"  in  England  and  the 
*'  rate-bills  "  in  the  United  States  were  designed  to  throw  a 
part  of  the  burden  of  maintaining  the  schools  upon  patrons. 
While  doing  this  they  had  the  effect  in  every  State  where 
tried  either  to  exclude  those  from  the  privileges  of  the  school 
who  could  not  afford  them,  or  to  subject  them  to  the  odium 
of  "pauper  patrons"  when  school  fees  were  remitted.  In 
either  case  the  "  odious  rate-bill "  has  been  the  occasion  of 
setting  off  society  into  classes,  excluding  some,  and  so  limit- . 
ing  the  efficiency  of  the  schools.* 

■*  See  this  question  of  rate- bills  discussed,  in  the  light  of  both  English 
and  American  experience,  in  Mr.  Adams's  "  Theory  of  Free  Schools," 
"  free-School  System,"  pp.  45-57. 


64  THE  REVOLUTIONARY  PERIOD. 

These  fees  took  on  various  forms.  They  were  not  always 
assessed  in  money,  though  in  cities  they  were  usually  so. 
In  coimtry  districts  in  most  States,  both  East  and  West,  the 
rate  frequently  included  board  for  the  teacher.  In  Ehode 
Island,  pupils  were  assessed  for  fuel  as  late  as  1833,  fee-bUls 
being  entirely  abolished  fifteen  years  later.  In  Vermont 
they  remained  until  1864,  in  New  York  three  years  and  in 
Connecticut  four  years  longer,  and  in  New  Jersey  until  1871. 

S.  Teachers. 

In  general,  the  teachers  of  the  last  century  were  poorly 
qualified  for  their  work.  But  of  the  majority  of  the  teach- 
ers, of  what  generation,  since  Adam  Roelandsen,  Dutch 
schoolmaster  under  Wouter  Van  Twiller,  at  Fort  Amster- 
dam, and  Brother  Philemon  Purmont,  in  Boston,  might  the 
same  not  be  said  ?  The  cause  is  not  diflficult  to  find.  What 
with  the  material  urgencies  of  a  new  country,  the  dangers 
without  and  want  within,  a  professional  spirit  was  not  to  be 
expected.  Contemporary  conditions  show  less  excuse.  In 
a  pamphlet,  published  in  1791,  the  teacher  of  the  period  is 
characterized  as  generally  "  a  foreigner,  shamefully  deficient 
in  every  qualification  for  instructing  youth,  and  not  seldom 
addicted  to  gross  vices."  *  Dr.  William  Darlington,  also,  of 
Pennsylvania,  describes  the  country  school-teachers  (1788) 
as  "often  low-bred,  intemperate  adventurers  of  the  Old 
World,"  but  generally  on  a  par  with  the  prevalent  estimate 
of  the  profession.  For  some  years  before,  and  again  soon 
after  the  War  for  Independence,  the  Atlantic  States  were  at 
times  overrun  with  English  adventurers  or  Irish  immi- 
grants, many  of  whom  occupied  the  intei'val  till  they  should 
find  employment,  in  teaching.  Some  came,  as  did  other 
laborers,  indentured  for  their  passage-money.  One  Boucher, 
a  royalist,  in  an  address  (1763)  ,t  is  reported  as  saying  that 

•  See  "  American  Journal  of  Education,"  vol.  jdii,  p.  752. 
t  See  Neill's  "  Maryland  Colony,"  p.  212.   Thomas  Scharf,  in  his  "  His- 
tory of  Maryland,"  vol.  ii,  p.  22,  says,  of  the  same  period,  "  Probably  much 


ELEMENTARY  EDUCATION.  65 

"  at  least  two  thirds  of  the  contemporary  Maryland  educa- 
tion was  derived  from  instructors  that  were  either  indent- 
ured servants  or  transported  felons.  Not  a  ship  arrives,"  he 
said,  "  either  with  redemptioners  or  convicts,  in  which  school- 
masters ai'e  not  as  regularly  advertised  for  sale,  as  are  weav- 
ers, tailors,  or  any  other  tradesmen." 

With  such  standards  of  intellectual  and  literary  excel- 
lence among  the  people,  no  prominence  could  he  expected 
among  their  servants — the  teachers,  and  yet  the  case  was  not 
wholly  bad.  In  each  of  a  dozen  colleges  were  a  few  men  of 
ability  and  noble  influence — men  to  know  whom,  and  to 
live  in  whose  atmosphere,  was  an  education.  Of  this  char- 
acter, without  exhausting  the  list,  or  excluding  others,  were 
Dwight  and  Stiles,  of  Yale,  and  a  little  later  Prof.  Silli- 
man  ;  Dr.  David  Tappan  and  Prof.  Sewall,  of  Harvard; 
Maclean,  of  Princeton ;  President  Wheelock,  of  Dartmouth ; 
and,  somewhat  earlier.  Prof.  Hugh  Jones,  of  the  College 
of  William  and  Mary.  In  the  academies  there  were  Masters 
Moody  and  Doddridge ;  Ebenezer  Adams,  of  Leicester ;  and 
Dr.  Thomas  Rowe,  the  teacher  of  Isaac  Watts.  Benjamin 
Abbot  began  in  this  period,  also,  his  long  career  at  Exeter. 

Concerning  the  common  or  elementary  school-teachers, 
however,  the  story  is  different.  Exceptions  were  few.  The 
learning  of  the  day  was  not  of  the  school-room.  The  period 
was  one  of  activity,  not  thought.  Life  was  conduct :  culture 
was  valued,  not  less ;  but  doing,  more.  The  years  were  full 
of  a  wisdom  suited  to  the  times.  The  needful  teachers  were 
new  institutions,  an  unbroken  continent,  impoverished  treas- 
uries, menacing  neighbors,  and  the  care  that  belongs  to  vent- 
ure without  precedent.  All  these  the  period  had ;  and  from 
their  influence,  in  season,  came  both  men  and  scholars.* 

more  than  halt  the  population,  not  including  slaves,  were  totally  illiterate 
and  grossly  ignorant,"  and  still  farther  that  there  was  "  no  general  educa- 
tion, no  free  circulation  of  books,  no  emoluments  and  distinction  of  liter- 
ature." 

*  For  a  vivid  and  entertaining  sketch  of  life  and  culture  in  the  Revolution- 
ary period,  see  McMaster's  "  History  of  the  People  of  the  United  States." 


66  THE  REVOLUTIONARY  PERIOD. 

3.  Common- School  Text-Books. 

The  subjects  of  the  school  course  remained  much  the 
same  as  in  the  first  century,  with  this  difference :  whereas 
then  there  were  almost  no  books  but  the  Bible  and  Cate- 
chism, scarcely  had  the  war  closed,  when  texts  were  pub- 
lished in  such  numbers  and  quality  as  revolutionized  the 
methods  of  teaching.    The  change  was  fundamental.* 

Spelling  at  first  was  not  distinct  from  reading;  or,  rather, 
reading  had  not  differentiated  from  spelling.  The  "New 
England  Primer,"  first  published  some  time  during  the  seven- 
teenth century,  had  already  gone  through  fifteen  editions  in 
1720,  been  many  times  revised  and  enlarged,  and,  in  the  re- 
issue of  1777,  dedicated  to  the  "  Hon.  John  Hancock,  Presi- 
dent of  the  American  Congress."  It  was  used  until  the  close 
of  the  century,  but  was  probably  valued  more  for  the  abridg- 
ment of  the  Catechism  it  contained  than  as  a  speller.  The 
"  New  England  Psalm-Book,"  after  fifty  editions,  was  still  in 
use  during  the  Revolution.  The  Dilworth  "  Spelling-Book," 
published  about  the  middle  of  the  eighteenth  century,  with 
a  little  elementary  grammar,  furnished  all  the  insti-uction 
given  upon  this  subject  for  three  generations.  Besides  these 
were  half  a  dozen  other  spellers  of  various  grades,  including 
John  Woolman's  "  First  Book  for  Children,"  Daniel  Flem- 
ing's "  Universal  Spelling-Book,"  and  one  by  Mr.  Pierce,  a 
Pennsylvania  teacher,  which  contained  a  tolerable  English 
grammar.  Of  course,  the  eminently  popular,  successfiil  and 
influential  speller  of  the  period  was  Webster's  "Spelling- 
Book,"  published  in  178.3.  The  author  planned  "  A  Gram- 
matical Institute  of  the  English  Language,  comprising  an 
Easy,  Concise,  and  Systematic  Method  of  Education,  designed 
for  the  Use  of  English  schools  in  America.''  It  was  to  be  in 
three  parts — a  Speller,  a  Grammar,  and  a  Reader.  The  first 
contained,  besides  appropriate  word-lists,  much  geographical 
knowledge  of  countries  and  towns,  to  be  taken  occasionally 

*  McMaster,  vol.  ii,  chap.  vii.    Also,  Thomas's  "  HistoTy  of  Printing." 


ELEMENTARY  EDUCATION.  67 

as  spelling-lessons.  The  wide  use  of  this  book  almost  justi- 
fies the  author's  assertion  that  "  the  Spelling-Book  does  more 
to  form  the  language  of  a  nation  than  all  others  combined." 

The  readers  of  the  period  were  a  great  improvement  on 
those  previously  used.  Webster's  "  Third  Part "  came  first 
(1785),  and,  like  the  speller,  was  very  comprehensive.  Its 
modest  title — "  An  American  Selection  of  Lessons  in  Read- 
ing and  Speaking ;  calculated  to  improve  the  Mind,  and  re- 
fine the  Taste  of  Youth ;  and  also  to  instruct  them  in  the 
Geography,  History  and  Politics  of  the  United  States.  To 
which  are  prefijced  Rules  in  Elocution  and  Directions  for  giv- 
ing Expression  to  the  Principal  Passions  of  the  Mind" — marks 
its  scope.  Its  only  rivals  for  many  years  were  Bingham's 
"  American  Preceptor  "  and  the  "  Columbian  Orator,''  about 
the  close  of  the  century.  Of  others,  having  less  sale,  were 
Murray's  "  English  Reader,"  reaching  its  fifth  edition ;  Chip- 
man's  "  American  Moralist  " ;  Stanford's  ''  The  Art  of  Read- 
ing "and  Goldsmith's  "  Roman  History,"  all  published  about 
the  opening  of  the  century.  Another  book  of  merit,  and 
used  as  a  reader,  was  an  "Account  of  the  Historical  Transac- 
tions of  the  United  States  after  the  Revolution"  (1788),  by 
Webster. 

Hodder's  "  Arithmetic,  or  that  Necessary  Art  made  most 
easy ;  being  explained  in  a  Way  familiar  to  the  Capacity  of 
any  that  desire  to  learn  it  in  a  Little  Time,"  the  first  of  a  long 
line  of  similar  texts,  had  passed  through  twenty-five  editions 
in  1719,  and  was  practically  the  only  book  in  use  until  the 
publication  of  Pike's  "  Arithmetic  "  (1785).  This  claimed  a 
"new  system,"  was  somewhat  more  pretentious,  and  con- 
tained an  appendix  of  forty  pages,  or  an  "  Introduction  to 
Algebra,"  for  the  use  of  academies.  DaboU's  "  Arithmetic  " 
was  published  about  the  same  time,  and,  a  few  years  later 
(1790)  the  "  Schoolmaster's  Assistant,"  by  Thomas  Dil worth, 
an  English  teacher  at  Wapping. 

Of  works  on  language  there  were  many,  from  Bailey's 
"  English  and  Latin  Grammar,"  in  its  fifth  edition,  1720 ;  new 
ones  being  published  at  the  rate  of  two  to  a  generation  for 


G8  THE  REVOLUTIONARY  PERIOD. 

the  century.  Mr.  Cheever's  "  Latin  Accidence,"  first  issued  in 
1645,  was  republished  about  the  middle  of  the  next  century, 
and  again  in  1838,  with  the  commendation  of  distinguished 
scholax-s  throughout  New  England,  The  "  Young  Lady's 
Accidence,"  by  Mr.  Caleb  Bingham  (1790),  is  notable  as  one 
of  the  first  books  on  English  grammar,  "  the  first  ever  used 
in  the  Boston  schools,"  where  it  was  continued  many  years. 
Besides  these  were  South's  "  Short  Introduction  to  English," 
and  the  much-used  "  Grammar  "  of  Lindley  Murray.  Mr. 
Murray  was  never  a  teacher,  but,  watchful  of  the  progress  of 
education,  gave,  about  1790,  a  series  of  informal  lessons,  on 
the  teaching  of  English,  to  the  assistants  in  a  girls'  school  in 
York.  These  were  afterward  put  into  form  and  published, 
and,  later  still,  reissued  in  the  United  States. 

Of  all  the  other  texts  of  the  period,  the  only  one  claiming 
attention  is  the  geography.  Except  the  incidental  informa- 
tion gathered  into  readers  and  gi-ammars,  no  instruction 
was  afforded  in  this  subject  before  the  "  Universal  Geogra- 
phy" of  Jedediah  Morse  (1784).*  This  was  an  18mo 
book,  contained  four  maps,  and,  excepting  in  a  limited  way 
Nathaniel  Dwight's  "  Catechetical  System  of  Geography,"  it 
was  the  only  available  text  for  nearly  half  a  century. 

4.  The  Education  of  Girls. 

By  a  kind  of  "  traditionary  blindness,"  few  among  the 
colonial  fathers  saw  the  contradiction  of  the  most  funda- 
mental of  their  religious  and  political  principles  in  disre- 
garding or  thwarting  the  intellectual  life  of  their  daughters. 
The  independence  which  they  claimed,  carried  implicitly 
the  emancipation  of  all  mind — if  in  holy  things,  certainly  in 
secular;  but,  with  a  bias  born  of  generations,  while  demo- 
cratic in  government  and  Protestant  in  religion,  in  a  few 
things  they  exemplified  the  most  conservative  aristocracy. 

*  An  abridgment  of  thia  book  was  made  seven  years  afterward,  in 
which  were  added  historical  accounts  of  the  European  settlements  in  Amer- 
ica, the  thirteen  States,  and  of  Europe,  Asia,  and  Africa. 


ELEMENTARY  EDUCATION.  69 

Before  the  close  of  the  last  century,  most  New  England 
towns  had  made  some  provision  for  the  education  of  girls, 
either  in  short  summer  terms,  or  at  the  noon  hours,  or  other 
interval,  of  the  town  (boys')  school.  But  no  such  opportunity 
was  afforded  girls  to  make  the  most  of  themselves,  as  had 
been  forced  upon  most  boys  for  a  half-dozen  generations. 
There  were  certain  schools  that  were  not  only  eminently 
successful  as  schools,  but  were  agencies  of  wide  influence  in 
educating  public  sentiment,  and  at  the  same  time  of  service 
in  publishing  the  possibilities  of  the  female  mind. 

For  a  hundred  years  the  Penn  Charter  School,  Philadel- 
phia, had  admitted  both  sexes  on  equal  terms.  The  Mora- 
vians had  established  a  school  for  girls  at  Bethlehem,  Pa.,  as 
early  as  1745,  while  the  Philadelphia  Female  Academy  dates 
from  the  Revolution.  Among  the  earliest  in  New  England 
were  Dr.  Dwight's  Yomig  Ladies'  Academy,  at  Greenfield, 
Conn.  (1785),  and  the  Medford  School,  near  Boston  (1789)  ; 
the  latter  is  said  to  have  been  for  many  years  the  resort  of 
young  lady  students  from  all  the  Eastern  States. 

The  most  vigorous  and  systematic  experiment,  however, 
and  the  most  vigorously  and  systematically  antagonized 
was  in  Boston.  As  early  as  1700  there  had  been  "  writing- 
schools,"  to  which  girls  were  admitted.  They  were  irregu- 
larly maintained  for  nearly  a  hundred  years,  but  to  no  defi- 
nite purpose.  Instruction  was  usually  given  by  the  teachers 
of  the  common  schools,  but  between  the  regular  sessions. 

About  1787  Mr.  Caleb  Bingham,*  with  an  illustrious  repu- 
tation as  a  teacher,  proposed  to  open  a  real  school  for  g^ls, 
where,  besides  writing,  they  should  be  taught  reading,  spell- 
ing, arithmetic,  and  English  grammar.  Immediately  upon 
opening,  his  room  was  filled.  The  supply  created  a  de- 
mand. More  sought  admission  than  could  be  accommodated. 
With  the  selectmen's  daughters  in  school,  female  educa- 

*  For  a  biography  of  Mr.  Bingham,  and  much  interesting  matter  con- 
cerning the  early  education  of  girls,  see  "  American  Journal  of  Education," 
vol.  V,  p.  325. 


70  THE  REVOLUTIONARY  PERIOD. 

tion  was  becoming  popular.  It  was  proposed  to  establish 
three  new  schools  for  girls,  called  "reading-schools."  Now 
was  introduced  a  curious  organization.  Pupils  attending  a 
writing-school  in  the  morning  in  one  building,  were,  in  the 
afternoon  in  another  building,  by  another  set  of  teachers,  in- 
structed in  the  "reading-school."  While  the  girls  were  in 
one  school,  the  boys  were  in  another  ;  and,  to  avoid  too  great 
hazard,  the  girls  were  only  allowed  to  attend  school  six 
months  in  the  year. 

This  came  to  be  called,  very  appropriately,  the  "  double- 
headed"  system,  and  continued  until  near  the  middle  of  the 
present  century.  A  like  separation  of  sexes  in  the  same 
building,  without  the  alternation  of  rooms  and  teachers,  is 
yet  practiced  in  Baltimore  and  in  many  Eastern  and  some 
Southern  cities. 

Bibliography. 

Ou  "  Social  Life  in  the  Colonies,"  just  prior  to  and  during  the  Revo- 
lution, see  "  Building  the  Nation,"  by  C.  C.  Coffin,  chapters  vi,  vii ;  and 
on  the  text-books  of  the  period,  the  "  History  of  Printing  in  America," 
by  Thomas ;  the  "  Christian  Examiner,"  vol.  vi,  p.  1 30  ;  aud  "  De  Bow's 
Review,"  vol.  xxviii,  p.  434, 


CHAPTER  V. 

ACADEMIES  AND  COLLEGES. 

1.  Academies. 

Alongside  each  of  the  first  colleges,  frequently  antedat- 
ing them,  sometimes  forming  part  of  the  organization,  was  a 
grammar-school.  This  was  true  of  Harvard,  William  and 
Mary,  Yale,  Princeton,  the  University  of  Pennsylvania,  and 
Dartmouth.  Such  schools  served  the  double  purpose  of  fit- 
ting for  the  college  and  supplementing  with  a  classical  train- 
ing the  meager  elementary  instruction  of  the  common 
schools  and  the  home.    They  were  the  only  preparatory 


ACADEMIES  AND  COLLEGES.  71 

schools  of  the  tune  and  of  uniform  type,  their  courses  being 
fitted  to  the  time-sanctioned  curriculum  of  the  college.  They 
taught  much  Latin  and  Greek,  an  extended  course  in  math- 
ematics, and  were  strong  generally  on  the  side  of  the  hu- 
manities as  these  were  understood.  Theirs  was  an  eminent 
service,  making  the  severe  training  of  the  college  possible. 

But  within  a  century  there  had  been  established  schools 
of  a  high  order  which  did  not,  and  were  not  designed  to,  in 
any  special  manner,  prepare  for  the  universities.  These 
were  independent  institutions  of  extended  courses,  some  of 
them  endowed  in  a  limited  way,  presided  over  by  the  best 
scholarship  and  teaching  in  the  State,  and  altogether  deserv- 
ing the  name  of  the  people's  college.  During  the  period 
these  rapidly  multiplied,  and  with  changed  social  conditions 
came  new  academic  functions. 

The  academy,  both  name  and  institution,  was  evidently 
borrowed  from  Great  Britain.  Scotland  had  such  schools  in 
her  principal  towns  as  early  as  the  twelfth  century,  while 
the  so-called  middle  schools  of  the  Continent,  the  classical 
drUl-schools  of  Germany,  and  the  great  public  schools  of 
England — Rugby,  Eton,  and  the  like,  "  the  most  English  in- 
stitutions of  England,"  venerable  with  age — are  their  Euro- 
pean antecedents. 

The  Edinburgh  High  School  dates  from  1519.  In  1644 
John  MUton,  after  describing,  in  his  "  Tractate,"  a  complete 
and  generous  education  as  "that  which  fits  a  man  to  per- 
form justly,  skilfully,  and  magnanimously,  all  the  ofiices, 
both  private  and  public,  of  peace  and  war,"  recommended 
that  "  less  time  be  bestowed  on  grammar  and  sophistry,"  and 
that  an  academy  be  established  which  should  be  both  school 
and  university.  Immediately  upon  the  "  Act  of  Toleration," 
academies  were  set  up  by  Dissenters,  who  subsequently  intro- 
duced them  into  the  colonies.  Indeed,  Harvard,  Yale,  and 
WUliam  and  Mary  were  for  many  years  not  superior  to  the 
best  classical  schools  of  English  Dissenters.  The  Dimimer 
School,  Massachusetts  (1763),  Flatbush  Academy,  "  Erasmus 
Hall,"  on  Long  Island  (1787),  and  a  few  years  earlier,  Ger- 


Y2  THE  REVOLUTIONARY  PERIOD. 

mantown  Academy,  Maryland,  Phillips  Exeter  (N.  H.), 
Phillips  Aiidover,  and  Leicester  academies,  Massachusetts, 
all  belong  to  this  period,  and,  while  the  most  famous,  con- 
stitute but  a  small  proportion  of  all.  Of  the  Moravian 
academies  at  Bethlehem  and  Nazareth,  Pa.,  the  historian 
Winterbotham  asserts  (1795)  that  they  were  "among  the 
best  establishments  of  any  schools  in  America." 

At  the  close  of  the  century  New  York  had  nineteen  of 
these  schools  and  Massachusetts  about  an  equal  number. 
They  were  to  be  found  in  almost  every  State,  both  North  and 
South,  and  were  the  one  characteristic  educational  agency 
of  the  time.  In  these  and  their  like,  sometimes  followed 
by  a  college  training,  oftener  not,  were  educated  the  "  boys 
of  '76 "  and  the  generation  following.  Franklin,  for  a 
time,  both  the  Adamses,  and  Johu  Hancock,  were  trained 
in  the  Boston  Latin  School.  Prof.  Tappan,  of  Harvard, 
Chief -Justice  Parsons  and  Sewall,  prepared  for  college  un- 
der Master  Moody  at  Dummer  Academy;  while  Benja- 
min Abbot  and  John  Adams,  masters  at  Exeter  and  An- 
dover,  made  for  themselves  and  their  schools  a  lasting  rep- 
utation.* 

The  English  academies  were  usually  well  endowed.  (Eton 
has  an  annual  revenue  of  one  hundred  and  fifty  thousand 
dollars,  and  pays  the  head-master  twenty-five  thousand  dol- 
lars.) The  Americans  of  the  last  century  were  in  no  condi- 
tion to  endow  so  well  their  schools,  though  possibly  they  did 
better.  The  academies  were  kept  near  the  people,  breathing 
the  spirit  of  the  time.  Most  of  them  were  incori)orated  xilti- 
mately.  Some  were  founded  by  returns  from  lotteries,  more 
by  appropiiations  from  the  public  treasury,  and  yet  more  by 
private  munificence. 

An  interesting  characteristic  of  these  academies  and  pe- 
culiar to  the  oldest  colonial  grammar-schools  is  the  signifl- 

*  The  New  England  academies,  typical  of  such  agencies  throughout  the 
States,  have  been  well  characterized  by  Mr.  C.  W.  Hammond  in  the  "  Amer- 
ican Journal  of  Education,"  vol.  xvi,  p.  423. 


ACADEMIES  AND  COLLEGES.  Y3 

cance  of  the  term  "free"  as  applied  to  them.  They  were 
not  at  all  "  free  "  in  the  modern  meaning  of  the  word ;  the 
priv^ileges  of  attendance  involved  the  payment  of  a  fee.  The 
larger  the  endowment,  however,  the  smaller  the  fee  usually ; 
and  to  most  of  them,  in  whatever  State,  admission  might  be 
had  by  the  needy  without  charge.  The  Dummer  School  was 
for  those  specified  in  the  bequest,  chiefly  the  inhabitants  of 
Byfield,  Mass.  So  the  Hopkins  grammar-schools  in  the 
seventeenth  century  were  free  to  the  towns  of  Hartford, 
New  Haven,  Hadley,  and  Cambridge,  in  which  they  were 
situated.  Later,  the  Phillips  Academies  were  opened  to  all 
from  whatever  State  in  the  sense  that  no  race,  nor  rank,  nor 
limitations  of  i*esidence,  nor  religious  distinctions,  were  made 
conditions  of  admission.  Equal  privileges  were  given  on  the 
same  terms.  They  were  free,  then,  in  contrast  with  the  like 
schools  and  seminaries  of  England,  admission  to  which  re- 
quired membership  in  some  particular  church  or  other  or- 
ganization, and  so  were  exclusive.* 

S.  Colleges. 

After  the  three  colonial  colleges  already  noted,  sixteen 
others  were  founded  before  the  close  of  the  century,  six  of 
which  preceded,  by  a  few  years,  the  Revolution. 

Of  these,  the  earliest  was  Princeton,  already  referred  to 
incidentally  as  the  local  outgrowth  of  the  "  Log  College  " 
of  Rev.  William  Tennent.  Though  founded  by  Presby- 
terians, and  still  supported  by  them,  it  stands  as  the  repre- 
sentative of  the  State's  higher  education  in  New  Jersey. 

Following  Princeton  was  King's  College  (now  Colum- 
bia), New  York.  It  was  founded  by  royal  charter  (1754), 
and  was  meant  to  be  an  Episcopal  seminary.  Initiated  by  a 
legalized  lottery — the  usual  step  in  such  moral  and  educa- 
tional enterprises  then — it  received  local  excise  money,  pri- 
vate benefactions,  and  the  "  King's  Farm,"  a  valuable  grant 

*  See  a  second  view  also  offered  by  Mr.  Hammond  in  his  "  New  Eng- 
land Academies  and  Classical  Schools." 


74  THE  REVOLUTIONARY  PERIOD. 

held  by  "Ti-inity  Church*'  for  religious  and  educational 
purposes.  Started  upon  an  Episcopal  basis,  it  met  the  an- 
tagonism, not  only  of  Dissenters,  of  whom  President  John- 
son bitterly  complained,  but  of  the  Dutch,  also,  who  natu- 
rally opposed  anything  English.  Nevertheless,  it  pros- 
pered. Prior  to  the  Revolution  it  received  liberal  grants 
from  King  George  III,  and  generous  contributions  from  the 
nobility  and  gentry  of  England,  besides  substantial  aid 
from  the  "Society  for  the  Propagation  of  the  Gospel  in 
Foreign  Parts."  Its  curriculum  had  been  expanded  in  the 
few  years,  even  beyond  that  of  Harvard  and  the  older 
institutions.  In  addition  to  the  usual  subjects  it  included 
"  divinity  "  and  medicine,  something  of  natural  science,  the 
modern  languages,  and  "whatever  else  of  literature  may 
tend  to  accomplish  the  pupils  as  scholars  and  gentlemen,"  * 
Predisposed  to  royalty,  the  college  was  closed  early  in  the 
war,  and  not  reopened  until  1784,  when  it  became  Columbia 
College,  with  its  general  control  in  the  "Regents  of  the 
University  of  the  State  of  New  York." 

Even  before  the  agitation  in  New  York  city  about  King's 
College,  Pennsylvania,  led  by  Franklin,  began  to  talk  of  an 
institution  in  Philadelphia.  In  the  year  1749  was  opened 
the  Philadelpliia  Academy,  with  a  kind  of  charity-school 
attachment.  In  the  former  were  taught  Latin,  English, 
and  mathematics.  It  immediately  took  on  the  functions 
of  a  high-grade  seminary,  at  the  same  time  fitting  young 
men  for  college.  Within  a  decade,  it  had  four  hun- 
dred students,  was  chartered  with  the  privileges  of  a  col- 
lege, had  an  extended  course  of  study,  a  department  of 
law,  and  drew  patronage  from  half  the  colonies.  At  the 
close  of  the  war  it  was  merged  in  the  University  of  Penn- 
sylvania. 

Brown  University,  though  founded  (1764)  as  a  Baptist 
institution,  was,  nevertheless,  one  of  the  first  schools  of  the 
period  to  emphasize  the  growing  sentiment  for  a  thoroughly 

♦  "  Historical  Sketch  of  Columbia  College,"  1884,  p.  3. 


ACADEMIES  AND  COLLEGES.  75 

undenominational  collegiate  training.  Dartmouth.  College  * 
developed  from  the  Indian  school  of  the  honored  principal, 
and  first  president,  of  the  college,  Rev.  Dr.  Wheelock.  It 
was  chartered  1769,  and  had  a  few  years  later  a  large  landed 
interest  (twelve  thousand  acres  in  one  body,  and  valuable), 
yielding  even  during  the  last  century  a  considerable  reve- 
nue. A  second  college  was  founded  in  New  Jersey  (1770) — 
Queen's,  now  Rutgers  ;  and  sixteen  others,  in  various  States, 
before  the  close  of  the  century.  Of  these,  three  were  in 
Maryland,  two  each  in  Virginia,  Tennessee,  and  Vermont ; 
and  one  in  each  of  the  six  States — Maine,  Massachusetts, 
North  Carolina,  New  York,  Pennsylvania,  and  South  Caro- 
lina, with  one  in  the  District  of  Columbia. 

A  marked  feature  of  the  period  is  the  rapid  multiplica- 
tion of  colleges  that  followed  the  first  flush  of  independence. 
Four  were  established  during  the  war  ;  twelve  immediately 
following.  By  the  close  of  the  century  the  country  -had 
more  colleges  in  proportion  to  the  population  than  it  has 
now.  Massachusetts  was  the  first  to  protest.  When  it  was 
proposed  to  found  Williams  College,  Harvard  filed  a  long 
and  formal  remonstrance.  It  was  urged  that  "  Harvard  was 
properly  a  college  of  the  whole  government ;  and  that  the 
Commonwealth  would  do  its  people  an  injury  by  taking  the 
support  from  one  old  and  established  institution,  and  en- 
couraging a  new  and  feeble  school."  f  The  protest  failed, 
and  the  college  (Williams)  was  established  (1793).  It  still 
remains  true  that  the  Harvard  principle  was  sound.    Will- 

*  Dartmouth  has  a  very  excellent  history  in  a  work  published  1878, 
written  by  B.  P.  Smith.  Chapter  xii,  p.  100,  contains  a  succinct  statement 
of  the  celebrated  "  Dartmouth  College  Case  "  touching  the  charter  of  the 
college.  Consult  also  the  "  Dartmouth  Causes  and  the  Supreme  Court," 
by  J.  Shirley,  St.  Louis,  1879.    Works  of  Daniel  Webster,  vol.  v,  p.  462. 

t  Tennessee  at  this  time,  Pennsylvania,  Maryland,  and  New  Jersey, 
had  each  two,  and  Virginia  three,  colleges.  On  the  *'  Multiplication  of  Col- 
leges and  Education  in  Smaller  Colleges,"  see  the  "  Ninety-fifth  Report  of 
the  University  of  the  State  of  New  York"  (1882),  p.  833;  also,  "  Educa- 
tion and  the  State,"  by  F.  A.  P.  Barnard,  p.  30. 


76  THE  REVOLUTIONARY  PERIOD. 

iams  has  a  record  of  which  to  be  proud  ;  but,  of  the  sixteen 
institutions  founded  between  1776  and  1796,  the  present  con- 
ditions of  five  only,  hint  at  even  passable  thrift.  The  cur- 
rent average  attendance  of  the  others  falls  below  eighty, 
with  a  present  aggregate  endowment  of  less  than  three  mill- 
ion dollars. 

This  was  a  time  of  general  expansion.  More  or  less  un- 
settled, society  was  necessarily  less  given  to  formal  and  pre- 
scribed culture,  but  devoted  to  organization  and  attempts  at 
practical  readjustments. 

Harvard  now  first  assumed  the  name  of  university  ;  for, 
though  there  had  been  collateral  professorships,  these  were 
maintained  by  assessments  upon  students,  were  not  co-ordi- 
nated into  departments,  and  left  the  institution  only  an  aca- 
demic school  of  art.  Signs  of  catholicity  also  appear,  in  that 
students  were  no  longer  required  to  attend  the  divinity  lect- 
ures, except  they  were  preparing  for  the  ministry.  The 
democratic  tendencies  of  the  time  were  shown  in  many 
ways.  Students  from  about  the  beginning  of  the  Revolution 
(1770  in  Yale)  were  catalogued  alphabetically,  and  not  as 
previously  by  the  social  rank  of  their  families.  Literary 
societies,  voluntaiy  associations  for  social  and  general  cult- 
ure, were  mvdtiplied  ;  and  at  William  and  Mary  College 
was  formed  (1776)  the  first  Greek  fraternity  in  this  country 
— the  Phi  Beta  Kappa — the  parent  of  both  secret  and  open 
college  fraternity  organizations  in  America.* 

New  interests  were  arising.  The  New  England  colonial 
conflict  had  been  a  theological  one.  The  opposition  and 
divergence  of  sects — freedom  from  which,  in  Virginia,  had 
constituted,  in  the  estimation  of  President  Blair,  one  of  that 
colony's  commending  social  features — were  rapidly  being 
obscured,  in  the  greater  immediate  civil  and  political  inter- 
ests which  all  the  colonies  shared  in  common.  Less  impor- 
tance was  attached  to  the  formal  subscription  to  creeds  ;  re- 

*  For  a  sketch  of  this  organization,  its  origin,  and  occasion,  see  Quincy'a 
•'  Harvard  University,"  vol.  ii,  p.  397. 


ACADEMIES  AND  COLLEGES. 


77 


ligious  tests  were  less  frequent  and  insistent.  William  and 
Mary  elected  a  lay  chancellor  ;  Yale,  also,  though  nominally 
on  a  Congregational  foundation,  received  aid  (1792)  from  the 
State,  and  gave  place  in  her  corporation  to  State  representa- 
tives. 

The  college,  once  an  api)endage  to  the  Church,  was  seen, 
in  view  of  imminent  State  dangers,  to  have  an  equal  value 
to  the  Commonwealth.  First  encouraged  because  it  pro- 
vided an  educated  ministry,  there  was  coming  to  be  recog- 
nized an  opinion,  despite  the  deficiencies  in  culture,  that  edu- 
cation is  something  more — that  it  has  a  value  in  itseK  ;  that 
schools  might  well  be  maintained  apart  from  the  Chm-ch  as 
an  organization,  and  in  no  way  lessen  their  usefulness.  Of 
the  four  colleges  established  during  the  war,  two  were  non- 
sectarian,  as  were  three  fourths  of  the  sixteen  colleges  found- 
ed in  the  twenty  years  after  1776. 

Colleges  founded  prior  to  1800. 


INSTITUTIONS. 


1.  Harvard 

2.  William  and  Mary 

8.  Yale 

4.  Princeton 

5.  University  of  Pennsylvania* 

6.  Columbia 

7.  Brown 

8.  Dartmouth 

9.  Queen's  (Kuti;ers) 

30.  Hampden-SicTnev 

11.  "Wasnington  and  Lee 

12.  Washington  University... 

13.  Dickinson 

14.  St.  John's 

15.  Nashville* 

16.  Georgetown 

17.  University  of  N.  Carolina.' 

18.  University  of  Vermont*.. 

19.  University  of  E.  Tennessee 

20.  Williams 

21.  Bowdoin 

22.  Union 

23.  Middlebury 

24.  Frederick  College 


State. 


Massachusetts 

Virginia 

Connecticut 

New  Jersey 

Pennsylvania 

New  York 

Rhode  Island 

New  Hampshire. . 

New  Jersey 

Virginia 

Virginia 

Maryland 

Pennsylvania 

Maryland 

Tennessee 

District  of  Col 

North  Carolina . . . 

Vermont 

Tennessee 

Massachusetts 

Maine 

New  York 

Vermont 

Maryland 

*  State. 


Date. 


1637 
1693 
1701 
1746 
1749 
1754 
1764 
1769 
1770 
1776 
1782 
1782 
1783 
1784 
1785 
1789 
1789 
1791 
1792 
1793 
1794 
1795 
1795 
1796 


Character. 


Congregational. 

Episcopal. 

Congregational. 

Presbyterian. 

Non-sectarian. 

Episcopal. 

Baptist. 

Congregational. 

Reformed. 

Presbyterian. 

Non-sectarian. 

Non-sectarian. 

M.  Episcopal. 

Non-sectarian. 

Non-sectarian. 

R.  Catholic. 

Non-sectarian. 

Non-sectarian. 

Non-sectarian. 

Congregational. 

Non-sectarian. 

Non-sectarian. 

Congregational. 

Non-sectarian. 


78  THE  REVOLUTIONARY  PERIOD. 

Bibliography. 

The  "New  England  Academics,"  by  Rev.  Charles  Hammond;  the 
"Old  Academies,"  "  New-Englander,"  January,  1885;  "Academies  in 
New  England"  (1830),  "American  Quarterly  Register,"  vol.  ii,  p.  131, 
and  vol.  iii,  p.  288 ;  the  "  Relation  of  Academies  to  Colleges,"  "  Congre- 
gational Review,"  vol.  ii,  p.  50,  and  "Putnam's  Magazine,"  vol.  ii,  p.  169. 
The  colleges  of  the  period  are  well  represented  in  "  A  Historj'  of  Harvard 
University,  1636-1776,"  by  Benjamin  Peirce;  a  "History  of  the  College 
of  New  Jersey,"  by  J.  Maclean ;  an  "  Historical  Sketch  of  Columbia  Col- 
lege," 1754-1876,  by  J.  Van  Amringe;  "History  of  the  University  of 
Pennsylvania,"  by  T.  H.  Montgomery ;  the  "  Early  History  of  Brown 
University,"  by  R.  A.  Guild  (1864);  the  "First  Half -Century  of  Dart- 
mouth College,"  by  N.  Crosby  (1769-1820);  and  "Descriptive  Analysis 
of  the  Society  System  in  Colleges  of  the  United  States,"  by  W.  J.  Baird. 


PART  THIRD. 
THE  PERIOD   OF  EEORGANIZATIOK 


CHAPTER  VI. 

CENTRALIZING  TENDENCIES. 

1.  The  Transition. 

The  transition  from  a  colonial  dependence  to  national 
independence  was  a  costly  one.  The  States  came  out  of  the 
contest  bankrupt  financially  ;  disorganized  in  industries  ;  a 
Government  without  precedent ;  the  real  War  of  Independ- 
ence yet  to  fight,  and  the  civilized  world  looking  on  to  see 
the  failure.  Not  three  decades  had  passed  from  the  inaugu- 
ration of  Washington  when  the  final  conflict  was  over. 
The  War  of  1812  was  fought,  a  substantial  independence 
achieved  ;  and  the  States,  no  longer  engrossed  with  conflict- 
ing and  unsettled  foreign  interests,  turned  their  attention  to 
economic  and  industrial  questions  at  home.  Trade  began  to 
revive  ;  commerce  had  found  a  way  ;  social  and  govern- 
mental forces  were  active  and  planning.  The  period  was 
one  of  great  change  and  much  growth. 

In  four  decades  population  had  trebled.  The  six  cities  of 
1790  had  grown  to  twenty-six  in  1830  ;  then,  one  thirtieth  of 
the  entire  population,  they  were  now  one  sixteenth.  The 
acquisition  of  territory  had  been  enormous.  The  scarcely 
more  than  eight  hundred  thousand  square  miles  of  1783  had 
expanded  to  upward  of  two  million  square  miles  in  1819,  op 


80  TDE  PERIOD  OF  REORGANIZATION. 

five  times  the  total  area  of  the  original  thirteen  States.  The 
increase  alone  was  equal  to  one  hundred  and  fifty-eight  States 
such  as  Massachusetts.  The  Mississippi  was  open  to  American 
commerce  its  full  length,  leading  to  a  rapid  extension  of  set- 
tlements in  the  Southwest.  It  was  the  era  of  new  States. 
Eleven  had  been  added  to  the  first  thirteen.  Trade  was 
opened  with  the  West  Indies.  In  the  census  of  1820,  statis- 
tics began  to  be  taken  concerning  manufacturing  interests. 
Appropriations  were  made  by  Congress,  as  well  as  by  several 
of  the  States,  for  internal  improvements,  in  the  year  1816 
three  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  dollars  being  set  aside  by 
congressional  act  for  this  poirpose.  Virginia,  Delaware,  and 
Maryland  established  "improvement  funds."  Manufactur- 
ing associations  and  trade  leagues  were  organized  in  Penn- 
sylvania and  North  Carolina.  Congress  voted  one  hundred 
thousand  dollars  annual  appropriation  to  the  navy.  A  sys- 
tem of  coast  defense  was  projected,  and  the  pre-emption  land 
act  passed.  The  year  1830  opened  upon  twenty-five  canals, 
including  the  great  Erie,  with  an  aggregate  length  of  sixteen 
hundred  miles  ;  while,  five  years  later,  one  thousand  miles 
of  railroad  had  grown  from  the  Quincy  (Mass.)  four-mile 
granite  line  of  1826. 

Already  the  slavery  question  was  forcing  itself  upon  the 
public  mind,  leading  directly  to  the  founding  of  the  Ameri- 
can Colonization,  and  other  manumission  societies,  and  end- 
less political  readjustments.  Academies  of  science,  philoso- 
phy, and  history,  the  "  North  American  Review,"  in  Boston, 
and  thirty  colleges,  took  their  start  in  this  period.  It  was 
in  these  years  when  most  of  our  educational  systems  origi- 
nated or  began  their  reorganization.  Professorships  of 
science,  law,  medicine,  and  the  modem  languages  were 
added  to  the  existing  faculties.  In  place  of  the  thirty-five 
newspapers  of  1775,  there  were  three  hundred  and  twenty- 
three  in  1810,  and  one  thousand  two  decades  later.  It  was  a 
period  of  great  awakening  and  great  activity.  In  the  atmos- 
phere of  the  Revolution  were  born  and  reared  statesmen 
and  soldiers ;  not  less  did  the  years  following  give  scholars 


CENTRALIZING  TENDENCIES.  81 

and  authors  and  teachers,  tradesmen  and  benefactors,  pro- 
fessional and  scientific  men.* 

It  was  the  period  of  the  Adamses  and  Jefferson ;  of  Frank- 
lin and  Webster ;  of  Governor  De  Witt  Clinton ;  of  young 
Denison  Olmsted ;  of  Horace  Mann  and  Joseph  Henry ;  of 
Everett  and  Story;  Gallaudet,  of  Connecticut;  Guilford,  of 
Ohio;  Grimke,  of  South  Carolina;  and  Frelinghuysen,  of 
New  Jersey.  Way  land,  in  Rhode  Island;  Peers,  va  Ken- 
tucky ;  and  Shaw,  in  Virginia,  were  planning  school  systems 
in  their  several  States.  Chancellor  Kent  was  in  his  prime, 
and  Randolph  and  Marshall  and  Jackson  and  Clay  wex'e  con- 
temporaries whose  like  the  modern  world  has  rarely  seen. 

In  the  presence  of  such  men,  one  ceases  to  wonder  that 
the  young  nation  was  growing  confident  and  aspiring.  To 
the  vigorous  young  the  future  is  always  promising.  To  them 
the  maintaining  of  a  free  government  seemed,  if  not  easy, 
at  least  possible.  How  possible  ?  The  wise  men — these  and 
others — set  themselves  to  answer  the  question. 

They  differed  in  their  views  about  the  Constitution,  and 
wrangled  over  the  dangers  of  centralization ;  the  best  men 
were  fearful  of  the  inroads  of  slavery  and  the  dangers  to 
commerce ;  but  all  agreed  that  intelligence  was  necessary  to 
citizenship.  Look  through  the  writings  of  Washington  and 
Jefferson,  and  it  will  be  found  that  the  best  thought  was 
given  to  the  importance  of  a  right  training  of  mind.  "In 
proportion  as  the  structure  of  a  government  gives  force  to 
public  opinion,"  said  Washington,  "  it  is  necessary  that  public 
opinion  should  be  enlightened."  So  Mr.  Jefferson  repeated- 
ly urged,  and  made  it  the  guide  of  his  later  years,  that  "  the 
diffusion  of  light  and  education  are  the  resources  most  to  be 
relied  on  for  ameliorating  the  condition,  promoting  the  vir- 
tue, and  advancing  the  happiness  of  man." 

*  On  the  general  culture,  the  refinement,  the  progress  of  institutions, 
etc.,  Holmes's  "American  Annals,"  first  published  at  the  opening  of  the 
century  and  reissued  a  generation  later,  contains  much  material  not  to  be 
found  in  later  books  covering  the  same  period. 


82  THE  PERIOD  OF  REORGANIZATION. 

The  sentiment  was  no  forced  one  nor  exotic.  It  was 
familiar  to  the  best  men  in  every  State  and  station ;  to  John 
Adams,  and  Madison,  and  Rush ;  to  lawyer  and  statesman 
and  clergyman.  It  was  so  general,  that  the  memorable  saying 
of  Chancellor  Kent,  that  "  the  pai'ent  who  sends  his  son  into 
the  world  imeducated,  defrauds  the  community  of  a  youth- 
ful citizen  and  bequeaths  to  it  a  nuisance,"  *  was  not  more  a 
personal  opinion  than  the  expression  of  a  wide-spread  public 
faith.  Out  of  such  patriotic  and  exalted  sentiments,  that  of 
universal  and  liberal  education  had  an  easy  birth.  Not  that 
intelligence  sprang  suddenly  out  of  ignoi*ance,  or  that  suffi- 
cient schools  were  at  once  provided.  History  can  hardly  be 
so  set  off  into  periods.  Most  "  turning-points  "  ai'e  curves; 
improvement  is  growth.  But,  in  the  fifty  years  after  1800, 
there  was  a  time  when  progress  noticeably  accelerated. 
Organization  was  upon  a  higher  plane.  Institutions  took 
on  new  significance.  New  arts  and  industries,  thronged 
cities  and  an  active  press,  the  exaltation  of  personal  and  co- 
operative life,  and  the  increased  recognition  of  humanitarian 
interests,  were,  both  logically  and  chronologically,  accom- 
panied by  a  large  and  wholesome  enthusiasm  for  education. 
The  time  was  pregnant  with  half -seen  possibilities. 

In  this  awakening  was  the  American  i*enaissance — a  re- 
turn to  vigorous  life,  such  as  had  not  been  enjoyed  for  a 
hundred  years.  Something  of  the  early  enthusiasm  for 
learning  and  the  means  of  learning  came  in  with  Jefferson 
and  Mann,  Mark  Hopkins,  Denison  Olmsted,  Mary  Lyon, 
and  their  contemporaries. 

Early  in  the  century  (1805)  the  Public  School  Society  of 
New  York  city  was  formed;  the  claims  of  public  primary 
education  were  urged — Boston,  1818;  and  New  York  pro- 
vided for  the  county  supervision  of  schools.    Within  the 


*  "  In  the  United  States,  he  who  does  not  send  his  child  to  school 
(which  he  should  do,  for  the  same  reason  as  he  pays  his  taxes,  or  fights  in 
time  of  war)  must  be  regarded  in  a  peculiarly  insidious  sense  as  an  enemy 
of  the  State."— Dr.  G,  S.  Haix. 


CENTRALIZING  TENDENCIES.  83 

period  were  introduced  or  discussed  the  first  high-schools, 
manual  training-schools,  and  mechanics'  institutes,  semi- 
naries for  teachers,  associations,  institutes,  and  the  publi- 
cation of  educational  journals.  Independent  professional 
schools  and  departments,  technological  institutions,  and 
learned  societies,  school  and  general  public  and  free  libra- 
ries, were  multiplied.  Evening  and  special  schools  for 
laboring  classes,  and  the  whole  list  of  institutions  for  the 
defective  and  dependent  classes — institutions  for  the  blind, 
the  deaf,  the  imbecile,  orphans,  and  the  wayward — took  their 
rise  during  these  years. 

There  were  without  doubt  great  agencies  at  work  looking 
to  general  education.  "A  broad  philanthropy,"  says  Mr. 
Bicknell,  "rather  than  a  deep  philosophy,  ruled  the  hour; 
when  men  consulted  their  instincts  more  than  formulas  of 
logic  in  their  educational  policy."  But  they  were  impulses 
well  rooted  and  guided,  out  of  whose  working  have  come  the 
current  systems. 

This  enlargement  of  educational  interest  was  accompa- 
nied further  by  certain  tendencies  toward  centralization 
peculiarly  modern,  and  which  claim  a  fuller  treatment. 
These  appear  in  the  creation  of  school-funds  by  the  States, 
and  the  accompanying  boards  of  control,  superintendents, 
commissioners,  etc.  Begun  with  a  ptirpose,  they  show  a  far- 
reaching  wisdom,  and  an  understanding  of  the  educational 
problem,  rare  enough  in  any  age ;  surprising,  then. 

2.  The  Creation  of  School-Funds. 

The  sources  of  income  for  the  support  of  schools  have 
been  various.  Local,  State,  and  national  taxes ;  municipal 
and  legislative  appropriations  ;  city.  State,  and  congres- 
sional land-grants ;  land-rents,  students'  fees,  rate-bills,  and 
private  benefactions ;  swamp  and  saline  lands ;  bank-tax  and 
surplus  revenue  funds ;  fines,  forfeitures,  and  escheats ;  excise 
tax  and  vender's  license,  have  all  contributed  to  the  support 
of  education. 

Speaking  generally,  most  early  funds  were  local  and 


84  .THE  PERIOD  OF  REORGANIZATION. 

annxial.  This  is  especially  true  of  New  England  and  Penn- 
sylvania, where  the  idea  of  local  self-government  was  strong. 
For  a  different  reason  also  the  same  statement  applies  to  parts 
of  the  South,  where,  as  in  Rhode  Island,  education  was  put 
alongside  of  religion  as  a  matter  of  personal  aad  domestic 
concern.  The  district  system,  as  will  appear  elsewhere,  is  a 
phase  of  this  same  early  tendency  to  divide  authority,  dis- 
tributing the  school  control  among  many  small  and  inde- 
pendent corporations.  First  appearing  in  New  England,  it 
has,  at  some  time,  been  upon  the  statute-books  of  more  than 
half  the  States  of  the  Union.  It  was  part  of  the  general  im- 
pulse toward  the  sharing  of  administrative  power,  educa- 
tional, political,  and  religious,  which  was  a  vigorous  and  long- 
lived  reaction  against  the  unreasoning  monarchism  which 
had  prevailed  into  modern  times,  and  been  imposed  upon 
our  forefathers. 

The  later  years — the  last  half -century — in  education  show 
a  bias  toward  a  larger  and  more  central  control.  The  co-op- 
erations of  an  industrial  life  in  a  populous  country  not  only 
require  a  general  likeness  of  interest,  but  a  homogeneity  of 
culture  and  participation  in  a  common  experience.  This 
disposition  of  the  public,  in  the  direction  of  organization  and 
concerted  action,  is  manifest  in  most  civil  affairs.  It  is 
shown  in  the  consolidation  of  industry  into  corporations; 
in  the  inauguration  of  fraternities  and  lodges,  and  guilds 
and  granges ;  in  the  organization  of  charity  and  the  union 
of  church  agencies  in  the  service  of  missions.  Christian  asso- 
ciations, benevolent  exchanges,  etc.  It  appears  also  in  the 
endowment  of  research,  and  the  multiplication  of  learned 
societies,  as  set  over  against  individual  investigation ;  while 
the  constant  aggressions  of  legislation  upon  territory  once 
recognized  as  individual  grounds  has  led  Herbert  Spencer  to 
say:  "  The  old  superstition  was  the  Divine  Right  of  kings; 
the  modern  one  is  the  Divine  Right  of  Parliaments." 
Among  all  representative  governments  the  mark  of  centrali- 
zation is  upon  contemporary  interests.  Education  is  no  ex- 
ception.    Questions  of  compulsory  school  attendance,  re- 


CENTRALIZING  TENDENCIES.  85 

formatory  training',  and  the  treatment  of  bodies  of  illiteracy, 
reveal,  in  their  discussion,  a  like  sentiment.  Care  for  the 
defective  classes,  once  regarded  as  a  private  charity,  is  now 
made  a  State  interest  almost  without  exception. 

Speaking  historically,  the  first  step  in  all  this  centering 
of  educational  control  was  the  creating  of  permanent  school- 
funds. 

A.    THE   BEGINNINGS   OF   PERMANENT    FUNDS. 

As  has  already  been  seen,  Massachusetts  and  other  colo- 
nies both  North  and  South,  made  appropriations  of  land,  some 
of  which,  held  by  leases,  ultimately  went  into  the  general  re- 
serve.* Connecticut  as  early  as  1733  had  set  apart  her  public 
lands  lying  in  the  northwestern  part  of  the  colony  "  to  the 
perpetual  use  of  the  schools."  A  portion  of  the  proceeds  was 
distributed  to  the  town  and  parish  school  societies,  and  now 
constitutes  a  part  of  their  permanent  funds.  To  these  have 
been  added  at  different  times  "  excise  moneys,"  local  bequests, 
and  forfeitures,  forming  in  some  towns  considerable  sums. 
In  the  year  1786,  upon  the  cession  of  Connecticut's  Western 
domain  to  the  United  States,  a  State  reservation  was  made 
of  what  is  now  northeastern  Ohio,  and  called  the  "  Western 
Reserve."  This  (except  a  small  tract)  was  sold  1795,  for  one 
million  dollars,  which  was  turned  into  the  school-fiuid. 

By  a  law  of  1786,  New  York  t  State  set  apart  two  lots  in 
each  township  of  the  unoccupied  lands,  for  "gospel  and 
school  purposes,"  and  fifteen  years  later  ordered  that  the  net 
proceeds  of  half  a  million  acres  of  vacant  and  unappropri- 
ated lands  should  be  devoted  to  a  permanent  fund  for  the 
support  of  common  schools. 

New  Hampshire,  1821,  began  a  similar  fund,  by  exacting 

*  A  very  exhaustive  study  of  the  "  Origin  and  History  of  the  Massachu- 
setts School-Fund"  is  presented  by  Hon.  George  S.  Boutwell,  in  the  Ke- 
port  of  the  Board  of  Education,  1859. 

+  For  a  statement  of  the  New  York  School-Fund  (for  the  Common 
schools)  and  the  Literary  Fund  (for  the  benefit  of  academies),  see  "  His- 
torical and  Statistical  Records  "  of  New  York,  1888. 


86  THE  PERIOD  OF  REORGANIZATION. 

one  half  of  one  per  cent  upon  the  capital  of  all  banks  within 
the  State.  And  Maine,  about  the  same  time,  devoted  the  pro- 
ceeds of  the  sale  of  twenty  townships  of  public  lands  for  a 
like  use ;  a  part  of  which  was  distributed  to  the  towns,  as  in 
Connecticut,  but  held  as  invested  capital  whose  income  only 
might  be  used  for  schools.  Certain  bank-stock  held,  and  the 
funded  debt  of  the  State,  were  made  in  New  Jersey  a  perma- 
nent fund  whose  revenue,  since  about  1820,  has  been  applied 
to  the  public  schools. 

Rhode  Island,  Vermont,  and  Pennsylvania  have  no  in- 
vested school-funds.  The  first  supplements  the  local  rev- 
enues by  an  annual  appropriation  of  one  hundred  thousand 
dollars,  and  the  last  by  not  less  than  one  million  dollars. 

As  might  be  supposed,  and  as  has  been  frequently  as- 
serted by  historians,  little  was  accomplished  in  the  South 
during  this  period ;  little  even  attempted.  Yet  the  principle 
of  State  responsibility,  and  somewhat  of  State  control,  was 
admitted,  and  became  a  factor  of  legislation  in  half  the 
Southern  States. 

A  beginning  was  made  by  Delaware  as  early  as  1796,  it 
seems,  though  no  definite  results  came  of  it;  the  present 
fund  dates  from  1837,  and  rests  upon  bank-stock,  and  a  bond 
of  the  State,  together  amovmting  to  about  one  hundred  and 
fifty  thousand  dollars.  Virginia  (1810)  began  the  constitu- 
tion of  her  "Literary  Fund"  by  legislative  appropriation, 
which  was  augmented  from  various  sources,  until,  at  the 
close  of  the  War  of  1812,  it  amounted  to  two  million  dollars. 
South  Carolina  followed  (1811),  but  feebly,  and  North  Caro- 
lina (1825).  Any  substantial  benefit  from  the  funds  was 
negatived  in  all  three  of  the  States  by  conferring  them 
chiefly  upon  the  poor.  Alabama,  Florida,  and  Georgia 
made  large  appropriations  of  land,  and  maintained,  espe- 
cially the  last,  floiu-ishing  academies,  but  upon  sjxxiial  en- 
dowments or  local  support.  At  the  prompting  of  Congress 
(1806),  grants  of  reservation  lands  were  made  in  Tennessee, 
one  hundred  thousand  acres  each  to  colleges  and  academies, 
and  one  thirty-sixth  of  the  remaining  unoccupied  territory 


CENTRALIZING  TENDENCIES.  87 

for  the  use  of  the  common  schools.  All  this,  which  later 
would  have  yielded  such  abundant  revenues,  was  almost 
wholly  wasted,  and  the  present  fund  began  with  an  in- 
vestment in  Bank  of  Tennessee  stock  (1846).  Tliis  was 
increased  both  by  legislative  enactments  and  bank-stock 
dividends,  amounting  in  1858  to  one  million  five  hundred 
thousand  dollars.  Large  grants  of  land  were  raade  by 
Kentucky  and  Louisiana  also.  In  the  former  (1821),  one 
half  the  net  profits  of  the  Bank  of  the  Commonwealth  were 
made  a  "  Literary  Fund,"  to  be  distributed  annually  for  the 
maintenance  of  common  schools  under  State  control.  The 
land-grants  in  Louisiana  were,  in  the  year  1847,  consolidated, 
aggregating  nearly  eight  hundred  thousand  acres,  and  form- 
ing a  large  and  for  some  years  a  productive  investment. 

B.    LOTTERIES. 

An  interesting  feature  of  school  administration,  fifty  to 
seventy-five  years  ago,  was  the  lottery.  It  came  in  for  all 
sorts  of  uses,  and  some  which  to-day  would  be  counted  very 
questionable.  Those  referred  to  here,  however,  were  legal- 
ized, had  the  sanction  of  public  opinion,  and  were  considered 
altogether  an  honorable  means  of  raising  funds.  Their  pro- 
ceeds were  in  some  instances  considerable,  and  contributed 
to  increase  the  common-school  fund,  and  the  endowment  of 
colleges ;  to  aid  in  the  erection  of  buildings,  furnishing  ap- 
paratus, and  paying  salaries. 

The  first  steps  taken  (1747)  toward  the  founding  of  what 
is  now  Columbia  College  were  in  the  grant  of  a  system 
of  lotteries.  Williamstown  Academy,  Massachusetts,  was 
partly  so  founded  (1790),  and  two  years  later,  four  lotteries 
were  granted  to  the  Regents  of  the  University  of  the  State 
of  New  York,  one  eighth  of  whose  proceeds  should  go  to  the 
academies,  and  the  remainder  to  the  common-school  fund. 
Upon  Union  and  Hamilton  Colleges,  and  the  College  of 
Physicians  and  Surgeons,  Vincennes  University,  Indiana, 
and  academies  throughout  the  West,  was  bestowed  such  aid. 
The  Catholepistemiad,  first  University  of  Michigan,  and  the 


88  THE  PEKIOD  OF  REORGANIZATION. 

General  Board  of  Education,  were  granted  four  lotteries,  fif- 
teen per  cent  of  whose  proceeds  should  be  applied  to  the 
general  fund.  William  and  Mary  College  and  Brown  and 
Harvard*  Universities  were  recipients  of  like  favors.  In- 
deed, for  the  half-century  following  the  Revolution  there 
was  almost  no  public  enterprise  requiring  pecuniary  aid 
that  did  not  receive  more  or  less  State  recognition  and 
assistance  through  lotteries,  at  some  time  and  in  some 
section.  From  municipal  improvements  to  founding  and 
equipping  colleges,  establishing  libraries,  initiating  and  aug- 
menting school-funds,  and  building  churches,  the  lottery 
has  been  a  common  source  of  relief.  One  writer,  speaking 
for  Rhode  Island  alone,  says  lotteries  were  made  "  to  con- 
tribute to  churches  in  Providence,  Newport,  Bristol,  and 
half  a  dozen  other  towns  ;  by  Baptist,  Methodist,  Presby- 
terian, and  Congregational  faith."  They  were  the  church 
fairs  of  our  grandfathers — a  device  whose  function,  as  a 
source  of  general  revenue,  possesses  a  decided  historic  in- 
terest. 

C.    CONGRESSIONAL   LAND-GRANTS 

A  more  important  source  of  school  revenue,  in  the  form 
of  permanent  investment  g^HJws  out  of  the  provisions  of  the 
famous  "  Ordinance  of  1787  "  and  subsequent  acts. 

The  several  colonies,  upon  establishing  independent  gov- 
ernments, and  even  before  the  ''  Articles  of  Confederation," 
laid  claim  to  the  undeveloped  territory  lying  west  of  them 
and  extending  nominally,  to  the  Pacific.  Virginia  owned 
Kentucky  and  the  territory  north  of  the  Ohio  River,  except 
some  reserves  in  Ohio.  Tennessee  was  held  by  North  Car- 
olina ;  Alabama  and  Mississippi  by  Greorgia  ;  Maine  by  Mas- 
sachusetts ;  and  Vermont  claimed  by  both  New  York  and 
New  Hampshire.    The  claims  of  Pennsylvania  and  Con- 

*  Harvard,  1775,  took  two  thousand  tickets  in  a  public  lottery,  and 
realized  eighteen  thousand  dollars  toward  the  'erection  of  Stoughton  Hall. 
Again,  in  1811,  Massachusetts  Hall  was  almost  wholly  built  from  the  pro- 
ceeds of  a  lottery  that  brought  twenty-nine  thousand  dollars. 


CENTRALIZING  TENDENCIES.  89 

necticut  also  were  conflicting,  and  the  dispute  was  finally 
submitted  to  Congress  (1775). 

The  offer  of  Virginia,  in  the  year  1781,  to  cede  her  terri- 
tory, was  accepted  by  the  General  Government  (1784).  Two 
years  later  (1786)  Connecticut  withdrew  her  claims,  reserv- 
ing to  herself  a  section  in  the  northeastern  corner  of  Ohio, 
from  the  western  boundary  of  Pennsylvania,  one  hundred 
and  twenty  miles  westward  and  from  the  forty-first  parallel 
of  latitude  north  to  the  lake,  called  in  the  early  days  "  New 
Connecticut. "  The  school-fund  to  which  reference  has  been 
made  elsewhere  began  in  the  sales  of  this  "Western  Re- 
serve." 

For  the  organization  and  control  of  this  Northwest  Terri- 
tory Congress  provided  in  1787.  In  the  year  1784,  Mr.  Jeffer- 
son, as  chairman  of  a  committee,  had  presented  to  Congress 
the  draught  of  a  bill  respecting  the  disposition  of  the  public 
lands,  in  which  one  is  surprised  to  find  no  reference  to 
schools  or  education.  Eleven  months  later  another  bill  was 
reported,  containing  the  provision  that  "  there  shall  be 
reserved  the  central  section  of  every  township  for  the  main- 
tenance of  public  schools,  and  the  section  immediately  ad- 
joining the  same  to  the  northward  for  the  support  of  re- 
ligion." After  several  amendments  and  prolonged  discus- 
sion, the  clause  referring  to  the  support  of  religion  was  strick- 
en out.  The  remaining  provisions  were  confirmed  two  years 
later  in  the  "  Ordinance  for  the  Government  of  the  Terri- 
tory Northwest  of  the  River  Ohio,"  *  along  with  which  was 
given  the  fundamental  declaration  which  has  since  been 
incorporated  into  almost  every  State  Constitution  that  "  re- 
ligion, morality,  and  knowledge,  being  necessary  to  good 
government  and  the  happiness  of  mankind,  schools  and 
the  means  of  education  shall  be  forever  encouraged." 

Ohio,  the  first  State  admitted  to  the  Union  from  this  Ter- 
ritory, received  three  townships ;  one  as  a  Territory,  and  two 
upon  admission  as  a  State  (1802),  for  the  support  of  a  univer^ 

*  Of  tliis  ordinance  it  is  said  Nathan  Dane  was  the  author. 


90  THE  PERIOD   OF  REORGANIZATION. 

sity,  and  subsequently  the  sixteenth  section  in  each  township 
toward  the  maintenance  of  common  schools.  Prior  to  1821, 
Indiana,  Illinois,  and  Michigan  had  received  like  grants.  In 
the  South,  under  the  general  provision  for  the  disposition  of 
public  lands,  Louisiana,  Mississippi,  Alabama,  and  Tennessee 
received  three  townships  each.  Maine,  Missouri,  Arkansas, 
Florida,  Texas,  Wisconsin,  and  Iowa,  respectively,  received 
the  sixteenth  section  only  (one  square  mile  out  of  each  town- 
ship of  thirty-six  square  miles). 

In  the  year  1841,  by  act  of  Congress,  sixteen  States — Ala- 
bama, Arkansas,  California,  Florida,  Illinois,  Iowa,  Kansas, 
Louisiana,  Michigan,  Minnesota,  Mississippi,  Missouri,  Ne- 
braska, Nevada,  Oregon,  and  Wisconsin — each  received  five 
hundred  thousand  acres,  of  which  three  million  in  the  ag- 
gregate went  to  augment  the  common-school  fund.  Upon 
the  organization  of  Oregon  Territory,  1848,  the  reservation 
for  schools  was  doubled,  whereby  California,  Minnesota, 
Oregon,  Kansas,  Nebraska,  Colorado,  and  Nevada  have  each 
received  both  the  sixteenth  and  thirty-sixth  sections.  The 
provision  appKes,  indeed,  to  every  new  State  since  1848,  ex- 
cept West  Virginia. 

By  act  of  Congress  (1849),  supplemented  by  legislation 
the  year  following,  and  again  in  the  year  1860,  thirteen 
States  —  Alabama,  Arkansas,  California,  Florida,  Illinois, 
Iowa,  Indiana,  Louisiana,  Michigan,  Minnesota,  Mississippi, 
Missouri,  and  Wisconsin — received  an  aggregate  of  62,428,413 
acres  of  swamp-lands,  14,000,000  acres  of  which  Were  appro- 
priated to  the  use  of  schools. 

The  total  land-grants  made  by  the  United  States  for  edu- 
cational purposes  up  to  1876 — one  century  of  its  existence — 
amount  to  nearly  eighty  million  acres,  or  one  hundred  and 
twenty-five  thousand  square  miles ;  a  territory  greater  than 
the  landed  ai'ea  of  Great  Britain  and  Ireland,  and  more  than 
half  that  of  all  France.  Of  this  it  is  estimated  that  more 
than  eighty  per  cent  has  contributed  to  permanent  funds 
for  the  elementary  schools. 

In  addition  to  the  appropriations  of  land,  it  has  been  the 


CENTRALIZING  TEXDENCIES.  91 

policy  of  the  Govemment  to  turn  into  the  State  treasuries, 
also,  a  percentage  of  the  net  proceeds  of  the  sale  of  public 
lands  within  their  borders.  At  first  this  was  three  per  cent 
(later  made  five  per  cent),  and  was  known  as  the  "  Three- 
per-cent  Fund."  In  the  year  1818  Congress  ordered  that 
one  sixth  of  it  should  be  given  to  the  founding  or  main- 
tenance of  a  college  or  university  in  each.  The  disposi- 
tion of  the  remainder  being  left  to  the  option  of  its 
holders,  in  a  dozen  States  it  was  diverted  to  education  ; 
Missouri  realizing  one  million  dollars'  increase  of  the  per- 
manent fund. 

Arkansas,  Indiana,  Missouri,  and  a  few  other  States,  re- 
ceived saline  lands,  the  proceeds  from  the  working  or  sale 
of  which  were  added  to  the  school-fund.  In  New  Jersey 
(1871)  the  income  from  the  sales  and  rents  of  riparian  lands 
between  high  and  low  water  were  made  a  part  of  the  school- 
fund,  a  sum  the  future  possible  revenue  of  which  has  been 
estimated  at  millions. 

In  some  of  the  newer  States  school  lands  have  been  sold 
in  part  only.  Nebraska  has  two  million  five  hundred  thou- 
sand acres,  none  of  which  can  be  sold  for  less  than  seven 
dollars  per  acre.    Texas  has  about  twenty-four  million  acres. 

D.  THE  SURPLUS  UEVENUE  FUND. 

In  1836,  by  act  of  Congress,  a  large  surplus  in  the  United 
States  treasury,  amounting  to  over  $42,000,000,  was  ordered 
to  be  deposited  with  the  several  Stg^tes,  in  proportion  to  their 
representation  in  Congress.  On  account  of  subsequent 
financial  embarrassments,  the  amount  actually  distributed 
was  something  less  than  $30,000,000.  Sixteen  of  the  twenty- 
six  States  then  organized  (1837)  set  aside  their  quota  of  the 
deposit,  in  whole  or  part,  as  a  fund  whose  revenue  should 
go  to  the  maintenance  of  the  common  schools  in  their  re- 
spective States.     Eight  of  these  *  so  appropriated  the  whole 

*  Alabama,  Delaware,  Kentucky,  Missouri,  New  York,  Ohio,  Bhode 
Island,  and  Vermont. 


92  THE  PERIOD  OF  REORGANIZATION. 

of  their  shares,  amounting  in  the  aggregate  to  $9,855,134. 
Eight  States,*  of  the  $9,462,798  they  received,  added  a  part  to 
their  school-funds,  the  other  going  for  internal  improvements 
and  general  purposes.  In  ten  States  receiving  the  deposits 
none  was  given  to  education.  These  were  Arkansas,  Lou- 
isiana, Maine,  Massachusetts,  Mississippi,  New  Hampshire, 
New  Jersey,  Tennessee,  and  Virginia,  receiving  in  the  aggre- 
gate $8,793,713,  which  went,  as  named  above,  to  general  pur- 
poses or  internal  improvements.  New  York  received  most 
and  Delaware  least,  in  both  of  which  it  was  set  apart  for 
education. 

3.  Permanent  Funds  and  Local  Taxes. 

Notwithstanding  the  large  common-school  endowments  t 
considered  in  the  last  paragraph,  they  furnish  but  a  limited 
part  of  the  total  school  revenues. 

By  the  United  States  Commissioner's  report  for  the  year 
1886-'87,  it  appears  that  the  expenditures  for  education  in 
the  United  States,  by  States  and  Territories,  was  $115,103,886 ; 
of  which  less  than  six  millions  was  received  from  perma- 
nent funds.  More  than  sixty  millions  of  dpllars  were  col- 
lected in  local  taxes,  a  revenue  representing  a  capital  of  a 
billion  and  a  half  of  dollars.  With  all  the  large  funds, 
it  is,  after  all,  the  willing  citizens'  tax  that  supports  the 
schools.  Pennsylvania  appropriates  $1,000,000  annually 
from  the  State  treasury,  but  raises  $9,000,000  from  local 
sources.  Illinois,  with  a  permanent  fund  of  over  $12,000,000, 
makes  an  annual  expenditure  nearly  as  large,  all  but  half 
a  million  being  from  local  taxes. 

In  the  table  have  been  grouped  the  ten  States  having  the 
largest  school-funds,  in  which  the  annual  income,  at  four 
and  a  half  per  cent,  from  this  source,  is  compared  with  their 
respective  school  expenditures  for  the  academic  year  1885-86 : 

*  Connecticut,  Georgia,  Illinois,  Indiana,  Maryland,  North  Carolina, 
Pennsylvania,  and  South  Carolina. 

t  The  aggregate  of  the  invested  school-funds  of  the  thirty -five  States 
approximates  one  hundred  and  twenty  million  dollars. 


CENTRALIZING  TENDENCIES. 


93 


Resources  and  Expenditures  of  Public  Education  in  ten  States,  1885-86. 


STATES. 

Invested  fund. 

Kevenue. 

Expenditure. 

1 

Illinois 

$12,049,000 
10,475,000 
9,458,000 
6,731,000 
4,904,000 
4,375,000 
4,100,000 
4,083,000 
3,838,000 
3,015,000 

$542,205 
471,375 
425,610 
302,895 
220,680 
196,875 
184,500 
183,735 
172,710 
135,675 

$10,136,000 
4,328,000 
5,314,000 

9! 

Missouri 

s 

4 

2,372,000 
2,351,000 

5 

Nebraska 

6 

Ohio 

9,328,000 

Y 

Iowa 

4,660,000 

8 

New  York 

13,285,000 
4,833,000 

9 

10 

Wisconsin 

3,645,000 

Total 

$63,059,000 

$2,836,260 

$59,752,000 

BiUiography. 

For  a  picture  of  society  at  the  opening  of  the  century,  see  Schouler's 
"  History  of  the  United  States,"  vols,  ii  and  iii ;  also,  "  Building  the  Na- 
tion," by  Coffin,  chapters  xvi,  xvii,  xviii,  xxxi,  and  xxxiii,  and  "  Historical 
View  of  Education,  its  Dignity  and  Degradation,"  by  Horace  Mann,  lect- 
ure V.  Consult  "  Public  Lands  for  Schools,"  J.  Sparks,  "  North  Ameri- 
can Review,"  vol.  xiii,  p.  310;  "History  of  Land  Grants  in  the  North- 
west Territory,"  G.  W.  Knight,  1885;  the  "  Ordinance  of  1787,"  Hon. 
John  Eaton,  "  Education,"  February,  1887,  "  Educational  Influence  of  the 
Ordinance  of  1787,"  "  Proceedings  of  the  National  Educational  Associa- 
tion," 1887,  p.  118;  "Dr.  Cutler  and  the  Ordinance  of  1787,"  W.  F. 
Poole,  "North  American  Review,"  1876;  "American  State  Universi- 
ties," by  A.  Ten  Brook,  including  interesting  matter  on  "  Congressional 
University  Land  Grants  " ;  "  Land  Grants  in  the  United  States  for  Edu- 
cational Purposes,"  by  Prof.  H.  B.  Adams,  "Proceedings  of  National 
Educational  Association,  Department  of  Superintendence,"  1889  ;  "  His- 
tory of  the  Surplus  Revenue  Fund"  of  1837,  by  E.  G.  Bourne  (1885), 
and  the  "  Division  of  School  Funds  for  Religious  Purposes,"  by  Dr.  W. 
T.  Harris,  "Atlantic  Monthly,"  August,  1876. 

A  curious  bit  of  history  is  to  be  found  in  a  sketch  of  the  "  Pious  Fund 
of  California,"  in  the  publications  of  the  California  Historical  Society, 
vol.  i,  Part  I,  1887.  See  also  the  "  Origin  and  History  of  the  Massachu- 
setts School  Fund,"  by  Secretary  George  S.  Boutwell. 


94  THE  PERIOD  OF  REORG^iNIZATION. 

CHAPTER  Vn. 
CENTRALIZING  TENDENCIES.-iContinwd.) 

School  Supervision. 

The  development  in  this  country  of  systems  of  school 
supervision  was  inevitable.  It  is  the  normal  result  of  public 
interest  in  the  child.  Division  of  labor  in  education,  as  in 
other  human  industry,  works  out  its  own  economy.  And 
the  authoritative  management  of  schools  is  justified,  not 
alone  because  the  training  of  mind  is  of  overmastering  im- 
portance, but  on  the  plain  business  principle  that  the  eco- 
nomical use  of  resources  is  the  first  step  to  success. 

It  has  been  said  there  are  three  stages  in  the  development 
of  school  systems  as  known  in  the  United  States:  1.  The 
conviction  made  general,  that  every  child  should  receive  a 
fair  share  of  education.  2.  The  later  but  equally  fundament- 
al idea,  that  the  property  of  the  State  should  be  responsible 
for  that  education.  3.  That  of  school  unity  and  system  as 
secured  by  supervision.  How  slow  has  been  the  progi-ess 
along  these  lines  is  evident  at  a  glance.  The  enforced  pat- 
ronage of  the  schools  is  a  phase  of  the  first  not  yet  generally 
accepted.  Under  the  second  is  the — to  many — doubtful 
question  of  free,  secondary,  and  professional  education ;  while 
with  an  abundance  of  supervision,  the  public  is  not  wholly 
convinced  of  the  importance  of  wise  direction. 

Bishop  Fraser,  visiting  this  country  (1865),  was  constrained 
to  say,  "  The  great  desideratum  of  the  common-school  system, 
both  in  Massachusetts  and  the  States  generally,  was  adequate, 
thorough,  impartial,  independent  inspection  of  schools  " ;  and 
more  than  twenty  years  afterward,  an  editorial  in  the  "  New 
England  Journal  of  Education  "  declared,  "  The  most  im]X)r- 
tant  question  of  the  hour  in  matters  of  education  is  that  of 
supervision." 

In  the  earlier  years,  when  there  were  f cvr  schools,  and 


CENTRALIZING  TENDENCIES.  95 

scattered,  control  was  chiefly  local,  and  exercised,  in  New 
England  especially,  by  the  selectmen  of  the  towns ;  later,  and 
until  late  in  this  century,  by  committees  and  local  school- 
boards.  Each  individual  school  was  a  law  unto  itself;  uni- 
formity was  out  of  the  question.  Schools  were  efficient  or 
neglected  according  to  the  local  management.  To  a  greater 
or  less  extent  this  must  always  be  true,  even  in  cities.  It  is 
the  personal  and  localized  effort  that  brings  success.  But 
the  extension  of  the  powers  of  the  committee  (or  board)  to 
administer  a  system  of  schools,  or  the  fixing  of  a  general 
control  in  a  specialist,  while  minor  and  executive  interests 
are  left  to  the  community,  has  great  advantages.  A  close 
organic  connection  of  the  stronger  schools  with  the  weaker 
may  advantage  the  one  while  offering  no  hindrance  to  the 
other.  This  is  the  function  of  a  well-ordered  supervision. 
The  co-operation  of  all  gives  efficiency  to  each. 

Again,  the  early  supervision,  if  it  may  be  so  called,  was 
chiefly  prudential  and  economical.  It  regarded  the  exjjendi- 
ture  of  moneys  and  the  erection  of  houses ;  the  levying  of 
taxes,  making  repairs,  fixing  the  school  terms  and  salaries ; 
and,  in  general,  had  to  do  with  the  administration,  the  bxisi- 
ness,  as  opposed  to  the  professional  side  of  education.  It  was 
the  infancy  of  control,  necessary  but  incidental  to  the  real 
work  of  the  school.  It  was  a  care  for  the  scaffolding  rather 
than  the  structure.  The  oversight  of  methods  and  courses 
of  study ;  of  teachers  and  their  selection ;  of  individuals,  and 
grades  and  classes ;  of  discipline  and  sanitation,  is  a  matter 
of  half  a  century's  gix)wth.  While,  in  a  more  comprehensive 
view  of  the  office,  there  must  be  added. to  these  its  function 
in  respect  to  the  school's  broader  economic  relations  as  a 
social  institution,  a  factor  in  civilization,  its  ethical  bearings. 
This  is  the  philosophical  side  of  education,  and  belongs  ap- 
propriately to  the  office  of  general  inspection.  It  has  been 
said  by  Dr.  Hall,  "  If  teaching  is  to  become  a  profession,  it  is 
superintendents,  supervisors,  etc.,  who  must  first  make  it  so, 
by  becoming,  as  their  high  position  demands,  strictly  profes- 
sional themselves  in  their  work." 


96  THE  PERIOD  OF  REORGANIZATION. 

lu  tracing  the  rise  and  development  of  this  systematic 
supervision,  it  will  be  convenient,  after  a  notice  of  the  "  dis- 
trict system,"  the  extreme  of  decentralization,  to  consider  it 
in  its  three  forms  *  as :  1.  State  supervision  which  was  the 
occasion  of,  and  has  developed  into.  State  systems.  2. 
County  supervision,  occasionally  appearing  as  township  con- 
trol.    3.  City  supervision. 

1.  The  District  System. 

The  district  system  of  school  management  took  its  rise  in 
the  colonial  period  of  New  England,  and  implies  the  setting 
off  of  towns  and  townships  into  smaller  bodies,  and  the  erec- 
tion of  these  into  independent  corporations.  They  were  pos- 
sessed of  legal  powers  of  holding  property,  levying  taxes, 
etc.,  and  filled  a  large  place  in  the  life  of  the  time.  The 
town,  in  New  England,  was  the  unit  in  all  civil  affairs.  The 
recognition  of  its  functions  gave  character  to  the  only  two 
school  systems  formed  before  the  Revolution.  The  substi- 
tution of  the  district,  in  educational  matters,  and  the  rise  of 
"  school  societies,"  f  form  an  interesting  piece  of  history. 

First  introduced  into  Connecticut  (1701)  and  half  a  cent- 
Tiiy  later  into  Rhode  Island,  the  principle  was  incorpo- 
rated into  the  revised  Code  of  Massachusetts  in  the  year 
1789.  It  was  the  provision  of  this  act,  concerning  "  school 
districts,"  which  Mr.  Mann  pronounced  the  most  disastrous 
feature  in  the  whole  history  of  educational  legislation  in 
Massachusetts.  Vermont  seven  years  before,  and  New 
Hampshire  in  1805,  made  like  changes. 

In  Rhode  Island  these  minor  districts  were  called  "  squad- 
rons," and  were  given  the  entire  "  management  of  their 
school-houses  and  lands,  leasing  out  the  latter,  and  employ- 
ing schoolmasters  as  was  most  agreeable  to  them."    Massa- 

*  The  supervision  of  the  General  Grovemment  will  be  found  considered 
elsewhere.    See,  in  index.  Bureau  of  Education,  Indians,  Alaska,  etc. 

t  For  a  history  of  these  school  societies,  see  "  Educational  Documents  of 
Connecticut,  for  1853,"  p.  141. 


CENTRALIZING  TENDENCIES.  97 

chusetts  soon  (1800)  authorized  district  taxation — a  measure 
from  whose  mischievous  implications  the  State  did  not  free 
itself  for  seventy  years.  New  York,  with  Ohio,  Illinois,  and 
other  Western  States,  passed  similar  enactments.  Through- 
out New  England  at  the  opening  of  the  century  the  district 
had  become  the  educational  unit,  while  outside  of  New  Eng- 
land (excluding  the  South),  in  a  single  generation,  it  pre- 
dominated in  half  the  States.  The  system  represents  the 
extreme  of  self-government.  A  study  of  its  development  in 
Connecticut  will  perhaps  best  reveal  its  character  and  influ- 
ence. 

An  act  of  the  General  Assembly  of  Connecticut  (1701) 
provided  that  "  the  inhabitants  of  each  town  in  the  colony 
shall  pay  annually  forty  shillings  in  every  thousand 
pounds  in  their  respective  lists  toward  the  maintenance  of  a 
schoolmaster."  Some  of  the  towns  were  large  and  con- 
tained parishes  or  ecclesiastical  bodies — churches ;  and  elev- 
en years  later  it  was  ordered  that,  "  for  the  bringing  up  of 
their  children  and  the  maintenance  of  a  school,"  they  (the 
churches)  should  receive  the  money  collected  among  them. 
The  ecclesiastical  body  thus  became  a  civil  organization 
holding  an  official  relation  to  the  management  of  schools 
sustained  by  public  funds. 

Originally,  in  New  England,  the  parish  was  coextensive 
with  the  town ;  the  two  were  coincident  indeed.  The  citi- 
zens in  the  one  were  members  in  the  other.  The  same  in 
constituency,  the  same  in  territorial  limits,  and  co-ordinate  in 
functions,  there  was  no  more  occasion  for  friction,  or  differ- 
ence of  opinion,  than  among  the  members  of  either.  The 
interests  of  one  were  the  interests  of  both.  But,  with  the 
growth  of  towns,  religious  care  led  to  their  division  into  dis- 
tinct parishes;  with  diversity  of  religious  belief  came  the 
afl&liation  of  those  of  like  sentiments,  without  regard  to  ge- 
ographical limits.  The  parish  had  lost  its  fixed  existence, 
while  maintaining  its  functions  and  organization.  It  was 
under  these  conditions  that  the  Connecticut  law  was  enacted. 
The  step  was  a  new  one,  and  away  from  the  common-school 


98  THE  PERIOD  OF  REORGANIZATION. 

idea  of  New  England — amounting  practically  to  the  estab- 
lishment of  school  districts  within  towns.  Authority  was  di- 
vided, and  the  direction  of  education  put  into  the  hands  of  a 
class.  It  pointed  to  a  delegation  of  authority  that  is  ruin- 
ous. The  parish  was  as  yet,  however,  only  a  district,  deriv- 
ing all  its  power,  as  did  other  districts,  from  the  civil  body. 
It  could  initiate  nothing ;  it  levied  no  taxes ;  it  changed  no 
law.  Forty  years  after,  it  was  enacted  that,  when  a  town 
consisted  of  but  one  ecclesiastical  society,  the  selectmen  of 
the  town  should  manage  the  schools ;  but  that,  when  it  in- 
cluded more  than  one,  a  committee  from  each  society  should 
be  empowered  to  manage  lands  and  funds.  By  1767  these 
parishes  were  allowed  each  a  separate  treasurer ;  and,  before 
the  close  of  the  century,  towns  had  been  authorized,  by  the 
new  State  Legislature,  to  incorporate  themselves  into  "  school 
societies."  In  the  revision  and  codification  of  laws,  1799,  it 
was  ordered  that  they  should  have  full  power  "  to  grant  rates 
for  building  and  repairing  ;  to  appoint  their  own  commit- 
tees ;  to  provide  teachers  ;  and  to  manage  the  prudentials  of 
their  schools."  This  seems  the  extreme  of  deterioration. 
So  wide-spread  was  the  influence,  that  few  States  in  the 
Union  escaped  it. 

Growing  out  of  these  applications  of  the  principle  of 
decentralization  were  two  evils  that  were  vicious  in  every 
way,  and  call  for  special  mention. 

The  first,  though  an  incident  of  the  system  in  Connecti- 
cut, and  not  found  in  most  States,  was  the  farming  out  of 
school  revenues  to  religious  bodies.*  It  was  subversive  of 
civil  and  social  unity.  It  was  yet  one  more  encroachment 
of  the  ecclesiastical  upon  the  civil  and  personal  life, 
because  of  which  Puritan  and  Huguenot  had  left  their 
European  homes.  So  disastrous  have  been  felt  to  be  its 
implications,  by  the  newer  States  and  in  recent  years,  that 

*  The  claims,  on  behalf  of  the  Roman  Catholic  Church,  for  participation 
in  the  control  of  school  revenues,  suggest  that  the  question  has  a  present 
significance  also. 


CENTRALIZING  TENDENCIES.  99 

seventeen  of  the  thirty-eight  States  have  seen  fit  to  incorpo- 
rate into  the  body  of  their  Constitutions  the  provision  that 
"  no  religious  sect  or  sects  shall  ever  control  any  part  of  the 
common-school  or  university  funds." 

But,  aside  from  its  ecclesiastical  aspects,  the  district  sys- 
tem seems  generally  to  have  worked  mischief  except  in  an 
occasional  thri\dng  and  homogeneous  community.  Along 
with  the  unequal  distribution  of  wealth,  the  system  leads  to 
great  inequality  in  the  means  and  provisions  of  education ;  to 
an  unwise  distribution  of  school-houses,  many  and  poor  ;  to 
short  terms  or  poor  teachers,  or  both ;  and,  in  imposing  upon 
indigence  and  improvidence  the  education  of  its  own,  tends 
du'ectly  to  class  distinctions.  In  Massachusetts,  for  example, 
it  is  said  that  one  third  of  the  State's  taxable  property  is  found 
within  a  radius  of  ten  miles  about  Boston.  Without  appor- 
tionment equalizing  the  revenues,  schools  in  the  more  dis- 
tant parts  must  be  very  insuflBciently  supported. 

The  system,  moreover,  in  its  ultimate  development  makes 
each  school  an  independant  organization,  assigns  mixed 
classes  to  the  same  teacher,  obstructs  gradation,  and,  besides 
being  a  wasteful  practice  financially,  ignores  the  plainest 
pedagogical  principles  of  instruction.  During  the  adminis- 
tratioa  of  Horace  Mann,  certain  townships  "  abolished  their 
districts,  assuming  control  of  their  schools  in  a  corporate 
capacity,"  but  twenty  years  later  it  was  said:  "So  fully  are 
most  citizens  attached  to  this  system,  so  fully  persuaded  that 
centralized  power  is  dangerous,  that  the  township  ought  not 
to  be  intrusted  with  the  entire  care  of  schools  (although  its 
officers  preside  in  every  other  department),  and  that  the 
reserved  right  of  having  an  agent  to  have  the  care  of  their 
school-houses,  and  to  employ  the  teachers  of  their  children, 
is  a  privilege  of  vital  importance  and  not  lightly  to  be  re- 
linquished— that  there  was  little  hope  for  better  things."  * 

In  New  York,  but  two  decades  ago,  there  was  an  almost 
entire  disappearance   of  the    township.      Whatever   local 

*  "  Twenty-eighth  Keport  of  the  Massachusetts  Board  of  Education." 


100  THE  PERIOD  OF  REORGAXIZATION. 

taxes  were  raised  came  through  the  districts  ;  of  one  of 
which  it  was  said  (1865)  "  it  had  not  taxed  itself  nor  raised 
one  cent  by  rate  "  during  three  years  of  the  previous  four. 
These  small  and  weak  but  more  or  less  independent  districts 
in  parts  of  New  England,  Delaware,  some  of  the  States  West, 
and  one  or  two  others  South,  have  constituted  the  greatest 
hindrances  to  the  maturing  of  school  systems.  Strength 
comes  from  co-operation ;  differences  are  equalized,  and  pub- 
lic administration  is  made  to  contribute  to  a  homogeneity 
that  is  civil  no  less  than  political  safety. 

But  the  influence  of  this  division  of  authority  is  some- 
times felt  in  States  where  the  right  to  levy  school-taxes  has 
not  been  reserved  to  the  district.  With  more  or  less  of 
central  organization,  it  frequently  occurs  that  the  right  to 
select,  examine,  and  hire  teachers,  rests  in  the  neighborhood, 
while  the  township  authorities  are  held  to  answer  for  the 
school's  success.  Inferior  teachers,  and  favoritism  in  their 
selection,  indifference  in  some  neighborhoods,  and  the  fre- 
quent shifting  of  instructors,  are  very  serious  evils,  and  all 
cluster  about  district  management. 

The  great  diversity  in  State  administration,  and  in  local 
administration  among  the  States,  makes  any  attempt  to  clas- 
sify them  as  to  local  organization  impracticable.  In  some, 
both  township  and  district  control  are  combined  in  respect 
to  different  though  more  or  less  conflicting  functions. 
Nevertheless,  there  are  certain  general  distinctions  apparent. 
In  twelve  States  the  district  system  predominates,  though  in 
most  of  them  the  union  of  districts  is  legalized.  In  general 
this  form  characterizes  the  older  colonies,  or  those  whose 
institutions  are  of  the  New  England  cast.  The  organiza- 
tion by  counties  prevails  in  the  South,  as  it  did  in  the 
days  of  Jefferson.  In  eighteen  States,  chiefly  Western, 
the  township  is  the  unit  in  most  civil  affairs,  education 
included. 

Not  until  1856  were  "  school  societies  "  and  parish  educa- 
tional corporations  abolished  in  CJonnecticut,  and  many  years 
later  the  union  of  districts  authorized.    In  Massachusetts  the 


CENTRALIZING  TENDENCIES.  101 

change  occuiTed  less  than  twenty  years  ago,  and  in  Rhode 
Island  soon  after.  In  the  reorganization  of  schools  during 
the  middle  of  the  century,  while  this  change  came  after 
State  management  and  supervision,  and  partly  as  a  result  of 
these,  it  was  also  in  part  an  outgrowth  of  causes  which  led 
to  these,  and  so  exhibits  one  form  of  the  wide-spread  ten- 
dency of  the  period  toward  centralization. 

2.  State  Supervision. 

The  Massachusetts  law  of  1647,  and  the  Connecticut  Code 
of  1650,  were  the  only  successful  attempts  at  systems  of  edu- 
cation prior  to  1800.  Other  States  had  tried :  Rhode  Island, 
under  John  Howland;  New  York,  under  Clinton;  Penn- 
sylvania, and,  about  the  same  time,  Virginia,  under  Jef- 
ferson. But  in  every  instance  the  laws  failed  of  any  effi- 
cient results. 

Of  the  States  named,  New  Y  ork  approached  soonest  to  a 
working  plan.  In  1795,  Governor  George  Clinton  had  rec- 
ommended the  establishment  of  schools,  and  an  act  was 
passed,  one  of  whose  provisions  was  a  supervision  hy  local 
commissioners  and  trustees,  reporting  to  the  Secretary  of 
State.  The  act  applied,  though,  to  cities  and  towns  only. 
Seventeen  years  later  (1812)  was  passed  the  first  act  contem- 
plating a  permanent  system,  and  creating  the  office  of 
"Superintendent  of  Common  Schools."  Gideon  Hawley 
received  the  appointment,  holding  the  office  for  nine  years — 
until  it  was  abolished,  the  Secretary  of  State  becoming  Super- 
intendent of  Schools  ex  officio. 

Although  the  first  State  to  move  in  the  matter  of  State 
oversight  of  schools,  the  legislation  of  1821  left  New  York 
far  behind.  Few  Secretaries  of  State  gave  them  any  consid- 
erable attention;  the  duties  of  the  two  offices  having  no 
organic,  much  less  any  logical  connection.  Hon.  John  A. 
Dix  was  perhaps  an  exception.  Made  Secretary  of  State 
in  1838,  and  so  charged  with  a  kind  of  school  auditorship, 
he  gave  the  system  a  large  place  in  his  thoughts.  It  was 
during  his  term  that  the  District  Library  act  of  the  State  was 


102  THE  PERIOD  OF  REORGANIZATION. 

passed.  In  1841  the  office  of  deputy -superintendent  was  cre- 
ated, and  the  duties  largely  turned  over  to  him.  With  this 
exception,  nothing  was  done  in  New  York  toward  State 
supervision  for  thirty-^hree  years ;  and  by  the  time  the  office 
was  revived  (1854),  and  the  State  had  set  earnestly  about 
the  task  of  developing  a  system  of  schools,  eighteen  oth- 
er States  had  already  done  the  like ;  among  the  earliest 
being  Maryland  (1823,  the  office  was  abolished  after  two 
years)  ;  Vermont,  1827  ;  Pennsylvania,  1834  ;  Michigan, 
1836  ;  Massachusetts,  Kentucky,  and  Ohio,  1837  (the  du- 
ties in  the  last  being,  after  three  years,  in  1840,  imposed 
upon  the  Secretary  of  State) ;  *  and  Missouri  and  Connecti- 
cut, 1839. 

For  a  time  most  States  combined  the  general  educational 
duties  with  those  of  officers  already  provided  for.  The  former 
were  often  regarded  as  nominal  only.  In  the  newer  States 
there  were  few  schools,  sessions  were  short,  the  finances 
could  easily  be  managed  by  existing  agencies,  and,  East 
and  West,  with  few  exceptions,  the  office  was  subordinated 
to  the  current  administration.  Missouri,  Ohio,  Pennsylva- 
nia, Vermont,  and  Louisiana  merged  it,  as  had  New  York, 
into  that  of  Secretary  of  State.  In  Colorado,  the  duties  were 
performed  by  the  State  Treasui-er;  in  Oregon,  for  thirteen 
years,  by  the  Governor. 

The  service  was  not  easily  set  off  from  that  of  other 
administrative  agencies,  as,  in  certain  States,  the  office  of 
city  and  town  trustee  is  not  yet;  as,  for  many  years  also, 
and  now  for  the  smaller  places,  the  city  superintendent  was 
only  a  successful  teacher  or  disciplinarian.  And  while  the 
chief  State  school  officer  is  now,  usually,  one  chosen  for  the 
place,  he  is  far  too  often  a  general  student  only,  a  specialist, 
an  ambitious  young  man  or  a  politician,  in  place  of  the 
practical,  educational  philosopher  and  wise  organizer,  which 

*  A  very  interesting  sketch  of  the  "  Origin  of  the  Ohio  School  System" 
appeared  in  the  "  Magazine  of  Western  History  "  for  January,  1888,  from 
the  pen  of  General  M.  D.  Leggett. 


CENTRALIZING  TENDENCIES.  103 

the  schools  need.  In  a  few  instances  the  Constitutions  or 
school  acts  require  that  he  he  a  professional  teacher  or  edu- 
cator, though  the  same  result  is  perhaps  hest  attained,  if  at 
all,  hy  an  educated  public  sentiment. 

The  best  State  systems  are  principally  what  they  are 
through  the  careful  and  unbiased  administration  of  more  or 
less  imperfect  laws  by  sensible  and  professionally  spirited 
superintendents  and  Boards  of  Education.  Not  only  States 
but  the  nation  delights  to  honor  the  names  of  Horace  Mann 
and  Henry  Barnard;  Peirce  in  Michigan,  Lewis  in  Ohio, 
Mills  and  Hopkins  in  Indiana,  Burrows  in  Pennsylvania, 
and  Beers  and  Northrop  in  Connecticut,  besides  more  re- 
cent oflBcers  in  these  and  other  States.  Such  wise  direct- 
ors are  the  hope  of  the  schools.  Order  and  harmony  and 
efficiency  come  from  settled  rational  law,  friction  and  waste 
and  confusion  from  aimless  unassociated  efforts. 

A.    MASSACHUSETTS   AND    HORACE    MANN. 

When  Massachusetts,  in  1837,  created  a  Board  of  Educa- 
tion, then  were  first  united  into  a  somewhat  related  whole  the 
more  or  less  excellent  but  varied  and  independent  organiza- 
tions, and  a  beginning  made  for  a  State  system.  It  was 
this  massing  of  forces,  and  the  hearty  co-operation  he  initi- 
ated, in  which  the  work  of  Horace  Mann  showed  its  match- 
less greatness.  "  Rarely,"  it  has  been  said,  "  have  great  abil- 
ity, unselfish  devotion,  and  brilliant  success,  been  so  united 
in  the  coui'se  of  a  single  life."  A  successful  lawyer,  a  mem- 
ber of  the  State  Legislature,  and  with  but  limited  experi- 
ence as  a  teacher,  he  has  left  his  impress  upon  the  educa- 
tional sentiments  of,  not  only  New  England,  but  the  United 
States. 

At  the  time  named  (1837),  Mr.  Mann  was  President  of  the 
State  Senate,  a  position  which  he  resigned  to  accept  the  sec- 
retaryship of  the  new  board ;  withdrawing  from  financially 
paying  professional  and  business  engagements,  abstracting 
himseK  from  political  parties,  that  he  might  in  singleness  of 
aim  do  the  best  things  in  the  line  of  duty,  with  timely  need. 


104  THE  PERIOD  OF  REORGANIZATION. 

He  entered  upon  his  duties  in  Juno  *  of  that  year,  and,  for 
the  rest  of  his  life,  was  known  as  an  educator.  The  office 
was  no  sinecure.  The  gnarls  of  a  century's  growth  were 
to  be  smoothed ;  not  all  of  the  large  number  of  private 
schools  were  in  accord  with  the  new  movement,  and  the 
churches  were  naturally  watchful  of  the  encroachments  of 
unsectarian  education.  Incompetent  teachers  were  fear- 
ful, politicians  carped,  and  general  conservatism  hindered. 
Much  was  to  be  accomplished,  also,  within  the  school. 
Teachers  had  to  be  improved,  interest  awakened,  methods 
rationalized,  and  the  whole  adjusted  to  the  available  re- 
sources. Moreover,  school  architecture  had  to  be  studied  ; 
school-funds  must  be  found,  regularly  provided  and  hus- 
banded, and  legislators  instructed.  All  this  and  more  Mr. 
Mann  did.  It  was  at  the  beginning  of  his  administration, 
and  by  his  wise  counsels  and  persistent  pleadings,  that 
the  system  of  normal  schools  was  originated.  The  annual 
appropriation  for  schools  was  doubled ;  two  million  dollars 
expended  on  houses  and  furniture;  the  number  of  women 
teachers  increased ;  institutes  introduced  and  systematized ; 
school  libraries  multiplied ;  education  provided  for  the  de- 
pendent, and  young  oflFending  classes,  and  the  fii'st  compul- 
sory law  of  the  State  enacted.  His  volume  of  lectures  and 
twelve  annual  reports  are  already  teachers'  classics.! 

B.    CONNECTICUT   AND   HENRY   BARNARD. 

The  securing  of  general  control  in  two  other  New  Eng- 
land States  also,  is  so  important,  because  of  the  comprehen- 
sive benefits  resulting  to  education,  and  the  wisdom  and 
magnanimity  which  brought  them  about,  as  to  call  for  spe- 
cial notice. 


*  Rev.  John  D.  Peirce,  eleven  months  before,  had  become  Superintend- 
ent of  the  Public  Schools  of  Michigan. 

t  For  an  exhibit  of  the  present  Massachusetts  school  system,  see  special 
report  by  the  Bureau  of  Education  on  the  Educational  Conference  at 
the  New  Orleans  Exposition,  Part  II,  p.  130. 


CENTRALIZING  TENDENCIES.  105 

At  the  time  when  Mr.  Mann  resigned  his  seat  in  the 
Massachusetts  Senate  (1837),  Mr.  Henry  Barnard,  a  young 
man  of  twenty-six,  a  lawyer,  and  recently  returned  from  two 
years  of  European  travel,  was  elected  to  the  Connecticut  Leg- 
islature. He  originated,  and  in  less  than  a  year  had  carried 
through  the  Assembly,  an  act  for  the  control  of  the  common 
schools,  under  which  the  "State  Board  of  Commission- 
ers" was  organized.  Mr.  Barnard  was  made  its  first  sec- 
retary. His  duties  were  to  gather  and  disseminate  infor- 
mation, and  to  discover,  devise,  and  recommend  plans  of 
improvement. 

His  first  report,  in  1839,  was  a  graphic  and  painstaking 
exposition  and  sununary  of  the  local  and  general  condition 
of  the  Connecticut  schools.  No  point  of  failure  seemed  to 
escape  his  criticism,  no  success  his  comraendation.  Horace 
Mann  said  of  him :  "  No  better  man  for  carrying  out  the  Con- 
necticut measures  of  reform  could  be  foxind."  He  devoted  to 
them  both  time  and  means.  This  first  report  made  some 
startling  revelations,  and  emphasized  the  need  of  an  effi- 
cient general  inspection  of  local  schools.  The  twelve  thou- 
sand pupils  in  private  schools  cost  more  than  was  expended 
for  the  forty  thousand  in  public  schools  with  equally  good 
instruction.  Primary  children  were  neglected  in  both; 
there  was  almost  no  gradation  of  schools ;  public  money  had 
been  misappropriated ;  and,  while  in  the  cities  and  populous 
districts  Connecticut  was  doing  as  well  as  other  parts  of  New 
England,  pi^ogress  over  the  State  was  represented  as  very  un- 
equal. The  influence  of  Mr.  Barnard  and  his  coadjutors 
was  soon  felt.  Much  and  most  valuable  information  was 
diffused  through  lectures,  periodicals,  and  tracts.  Teachers 
were  awakened,  associations  for  mutual  improvement  were 
formed.  In  the  fall  of  1839,  was  called  at  Hartford  one  of 
the  first  teachers'  classes  in  this  country.  He  established  an 
educational  periodical  as  a  vehicle  of  oflficial  and  current 
educational  information,  which  together  with  the  institute 
of  teachers,  was  made  a  private  enterprise  wholly  at  the  ex- 
pense of  Mr.  Barnard. 


106  THE  PERIOD  OF  REORGANIZATION. 

Suddenly,  in  an  evil  hour,  and  seemingly  without  occa- 
sion, the  board  was  abolished,  and  the  wholesome  laws  re- 
pealed (1842).  The  only  vestige  of  the  office  remaining  was 
that  of  the  commissioner  of  the  school-fund,  who  was,  ex 
officio,  a  nominal  superintendent  for  seven  years.*  In  the 
year  1840,  Mr.  Barnard  being  made  principal  of  the  newly 
founded  State  Normal  School  at  New  Britain,  was  also  by 
legal  provision  Superintendent  of  Common  Schools,  both 
of  which  positions  he  held  for  six  years.  In  the  year  1865, 
the  State  Board  was  reconstituted,  and  Mr.  D.  C.  Gilmanf 
was  made  its  first  secretary. 

C.   RHODE  ISLAND. 

One  year  after  the  repeal  of  the  Connecticut  law  and  his 
retirement,  Mr.  Barnard  was  invited  to  Rhode  Island,  to 
assist  in  devising  plans  for  the  organization  of  schools  in 
that  State.  For  sixteen  years  there  had  been  in  force  a 
permissive  law,  but  indifferently  accepted  and  inefficient. 
There  were  many  private  schools  and  expensive.  The  pub- 
lic terms  were  short,  and  the  work  was  without  system.  A 
bill  was  drawn  up  largely  at  his  dictation,  submitted  to  the 
Legislature,  passed  unanimously  by  both  Houses,  and  Mr. 
Barnard,  before  he  could  leave  the  State,  was  invited  to  be- 
come "  Commissioner  of  Public  Schools  "  in  Rhode  Island. 
He  accepted,  and  in  December  of  that  year  (1843)  began  a 
work  of  six  years,  in  magnitude  and  detail,  in  permanency 
of  result  and  general  co-operation,  scarcely  second  to  that 
of  Horace  Mann  in  Massachusetts. 

It  is  not  extravagant  to  say  that  the  services  of  Mr.  Mann 
in  Massachusetts,  and  Mr.  Barnard  in  Rhode  Island  and 
Connecticut,  have  been  the  models,  in  comprehensiveness 


*  Mr.  Scth  Beers  became,  in  1825,  commissioner,  and  to  him  belong 
much  of  the  credit  of  preserving  and  augmenting  the  school-ftmd,  during 
a  quarter  of  a  century,  when  the  State  organization  was  the  most  im- 
perfect. 

t  Since  President  of  Johns  Hopkins  University. 


CENTRALIZING  TENDENCIES.  107 

and  system,  and  general  spirit,  of  most  of  the  inspec- 
tion and  oversight  of  State  schools  in  the  United  States 
for  nearly  fifty  years. 

D.    GENERAL   VIEW    OF   STATE   CONTROL. 

Delaware,  of  all  the  States,  has  no  superintendent.  The 
last  to  create  the  office  (1875),  after  eleven  years,  the  legis- 
lature repealed  the  law,  and  at  present  the  three  county 
superintendents  report  (nominally)  to  the  Secretary  of  State. 
Among  the  Territories  New  Mexico  has  an  oflficer  appointed 
annually  to  receive  the  educational  reports,  hut  without 
supervisory  powers.  With  these  exceptions  the  form,  of 
State  supervision  is  universal.  Its  functions  are  variously 
exercised. 

The  average  ofiicial  term  is  a  fraction  over  three  years. 
In  fourteen  States  it  is  four  years.  Of  these  last,  eight  have 
estabhshed  the  office  in  the  last  two  decades ;  while  but  five 
State  enactments  in  that  period  have  made  it  two  years — 
hinting  at  a  tendency  to  lengthen  the  official  service.  In 
Massachusetts,  Connecticut,  and  Rhode  Island  the  appoint- 
ment is  annual,  being  in  the  first  two  a  secretaryship  in 
the  State  Board.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  however,  the  terms 
of  service  in  these  States  have  been  longer  than  the  average. 
Uniformity  of  administration  through  a  fairly  established 
tenure  of  office  is  fruitful  of  good  in  all  departments  of  edu- 
cation ;  in  supervision  it  is  fundamental. 

In  most  of  the  States  the  services  of  the  superintendent 
are  supplemented  by  a  general  Board  of  Education,  of  which 
he  is,  ex  officio,  a  member,  and  whose  two  chief  functions 
are  the  examination  of  teachers,  directly  or  indirectly,  and 
the  management  of  the  State  school-funds.  Of  the  thirty- 
eight  States,  twenty-three  have  such  boards.  Three  others 
— Arkansas,  New  Hampshire,  and  West  Virginia — provide 
bodies  corporate  for  the  control  of  the  funds  ;  and  Illinois, 
Iowa,  and  Ohio  each  a  Board  of  Examiners  only.  In  Minne- 
sota the  Board  of  Commissioners  on  Preparatory  Schools 


108  THE  PERIOD  OF  REORGANIZATION. 

is  constituted  of  the  Governor  of  the  State,  the  Superintend- 
ent of  Public  Schools,  and  the  President  of  the  University  of 
Minnesota,  for  the  encouragement  of  higher  education  in  the 
State. 

The  first  board  organized,  so  far  as  known,  was  that  in 
North  Carolina,  in  the  year  1825,  under  the  name  of  the  "Presi- 
dent and  Directors*  of  the  Literary  Fund."  From  this  act 
and  the  services  of  this  board,  dates  all  that  was  attempted 
toward  a  system  of  schools  in  North  Carolina  prior  to  1861. 
Ten  years  after  the  North  Carolina  law,  Missouri  instituted 
a  similar  organization,  to  be  known  as  the  State  Board  of 
Education,  f  and  to  consist  of  the  Grovernor,  the  Auditor,  and 
the  Treasurer  of  State.  Besides  these,  and  the  Massachusetts 
and  Connecticut  Boards  already  noticed,  the  only  other  State 
with  similar  provisions  before  1850  was  Maine,  whose  board 
was  abolished  six  years  later,  and  has  not  since  been  re- 
vived. 

Of  the  twenty-three  State  organizations,  ten  are  com- 
posed chiefly  of  State  officials,  and  can  only  be  regarded  as 
administrative  in  a  business  way.  The  constitution  of  the 
other  thirteen  is  mainly  professional,  and  points  to  better 
things.  It  is  certainly  a  matter  of  grave  importance  that, 
whatever  the  educational  office,  persons  shall  be  chosen 
for  their  fitness  to  discharge  its  fxinctions.  If  super- 
visory powers — general  or  local — are  to  justify  themselves, 
they  must  be  administered  in  the  light  of  the  maturest, 
all-sided  educational  thought.  State  control,  both  corpo- 
rate and  individual,  may  otherwise  be  only  so  much  ma- 
chinery. 

The  following  table  shows  not  only  the  date  of  the  first  ap- 
pointment of  a  superintendent  in  each  State,  but  in  some  cases 
also  the  successive  modifications  of  the  idea  of  supervision. 

♦Consisting  of  the  Chief-Justice  of  the  Supreme  Court,  the  Speak- 
ers of  the  Senate  and  the  House  of  Commons,  and  the  Treasurer  of  the 
State. 

f  This  was  eighteen  years  before  the  appointment  of  a  State  Superin- 
tendent. 


CENTRALIZING  TENDENCIES. 


109 


State  Scluool  Control. 


No. 
1 
2 


STATE. 


New  York 

Secretary  of  State . . 

Superintendent 

Maryland 

Abolished 

Revived 

Vermont 

Abolished 

Revived 

Abolished 

Revived 

Pennsylvania 

Michigan 

Massachusetts 

Ohio 

Secretary  of  State. . . 

Superintendent 

Kentucky 

Miiisouri 

Secretary  of  State . . 

Superintendent 

Connecticut 

Iowa 

Abolished 

Revived 

Abolished 

Revived 

Rhode  Island 

New  Jereey 

Made  general 


Supt. 

No. 
14 

1813 

1821 

15 

1854 

1825 

1827 

16 

1864 

1827 

17 

1833 

18 

1845 

19 

1851 

20 

1856 

21 

1833 

22 

1836 

23 

1837 

24 

1837 

25 

1840 

26 

1853 

27 

1837 

28 

1839 

29 

1841 

30 

1853 

31 

1839 

32 

1841 

33 

1842 

34 

1846 

35 

1858 

86 

1864 

37 

1843 

33 

1845 

1846 

STATE. 


Maine 

New  Hampshire 

Sec.  of  the  County  Bd 

Superintendent. 

Louisiana 

Revived 

Wisconsin , 

California 

Indiana , 

North  Carolina 

Alabama 

Illinois 

Minnesota 

Kansas 

Colorado 

Nevada 

Tennessee 

Georgia 

Florida 

Mississippi 

South  Carolina 

Nebraska 

West  Virginia 

Virginia 

Texas  

Oregon  

Arkansas 

Delaware 

Abolished 


Supt. 


1846 
1846 
1850 
1857 
1847 
1868 
1849 
1851 
1852 
1852 
1854 
1854 
1858 
1859 
1861 
1866 
1867 
1868 
1868 
1868 
1868 
1869 
1869 
1870 
1871 
1872 
1874 
1875 
1886 


S.  City  Supervision. 

Next  to  some  form  of  State  control,  as  most  general 
and  best  defined,  is  that  of  cities.  Now  so  common  that 
the  attemjit  to  maintain  a  system  of  schools  in  any  city 
of  large  size,  without  some  responsible  directive  agent,  is 
looked  upon  as  an  anomaly,  it  is  easy  to  forget — many 
seem  not  to  know — that  the  experiment  itself  is  but  a  gen- 
eration old. 

In  the  year  1837,  BufPalo  (New  York),  made  a  city  but 
five  years  before,  with  a  population  of  about  a  thousand, 
and  six  school  districts,  was  authorized  to  appoint  a  superin- 
8 


110  THE  PERIOD  OF  REORGANIZATION. 

tendent.*  The  step  appears  to  have  been  without  precedent 
in  this  country.  Within  two  years  there  were  fifteen  dis- 
tricts, a  school  in  each,  a  central  school  for  the  higher  Eng- 
lish branches,  and  a  superintendent. 

About  the  same  time  in  Rhode  Island  one  Tlibmas  W. 
Dorr,  known  in  history  as  the  leader  of  the  Dorr  Rebellion 
of  1842,  was  a  member  of  the  Providence  School  Committee 
and,  as  chairman,  di*afted  a  plan  for  the  more  vigorous 
management  and  inspection  of  the  town  schools.  It  is 
claimed  that  he  got  his  idea  from  the  State  and  local  factory 
system,  whose  directors,  as  in  all  large  industrial  enter- 
prises, select  some  skillful,  trusted,  intelligent  workman  as 
foreman  or  superintendent.  The  plan  was  adopted  in  Provi- 
dence as  a  similar  one  had  been  in  BuflPalo,  and  others  were 
later  in  most  enterprising  communities.  Indeed,  from  the 
material  standpoint,  any  objection  that  may  be  made  to 
school  supervision  may  be  made  to  foremen  and  overseers 
and  master-workmen  anywhere.  Hon.  Nathan  Bishop  was 
elected  to  the  new  jwsition  (1839),  a  place  which  he  honor- 
ably filled  until  his  promotion  twelve  years  later  to  a  similar 
one  in  Boston,  where  also  he  had  the  honor  to  inaugurate 
a  work  so  admirably  established  at  Providence. 

In  the  mean  time,  however,  in  other  cities  and  sections, 
the  suggestion  was  being  adopted.  The  city  of  New  Orleans 
was  incorporated  in  the  year  1804.  Thirty  years  later,  ha^j- 
ing  about  one  hundred  thousand  population,  it  was  set  off 
into  three  independent  municipalities.  By  State  law  (1840) 
they  were  authorized  to  establish  schools.  The  second  dis- 
trict organized  (1841)  with  twelve  citizens  as  a  board  of 
directors  with  power  to  act.  Mr.  John  A.  Shaw  was  chosen 
superintendent.  Within  three  years  the  enthusiasm  was 
transmitted  to  the  other  wards,  and  the  system  became  (1844) 
uniform  throughout  the  city.  For  the  same  year  also  Cleve- 
land, Ohio,  specified  the  secretary  of  the  board  as  "  acting 
manager  of  the  schools,"  who  served  twelve  years,  when  the 

*  Steiger's  "  Cyclopsedia  of  Education,"  article  "  Buffalo." 


CENTRALIZING  TENDENCIES.  HI 

name  was  changed  to  "  Superintendent  of  Schools,"  and  An- 
drew Friese  elected  to  the  oflBce.  Springfield,  Massachusetts, 
the  year  following  made  the  experiment,  hut  almost  immedi- 
ately adandoned  it.  Mr.  J.  N.  McJilton  was  elected  superin- 
tendent of  Baltimore,  1849 ;  and  Nathan  Guilford,  of  Cincin- 
nati, 1850.  This  last  was  hy  popular  vote,  though  since  1853 
the  office  has  been  filled  hy  appoLntment  of  the  board.  The 
decade  from  1850  to  1860  shows  a  general  reorganization,  one 
of  whose  elements  was  the  choice  of  a  superintendent.  Bos- 
ton made  the  change,  as  has  been  seen,  in  1851,  leading  to  a 
State  law  ia  that  year  authorizing  supervision  in  towns 
throughout  the  State.  Under  this  law  Gloucester  immedi- 
ately made  an  appointment.  New  York  city  reorganized 
the  same  year,  San  Francisco  and  Jersey  City  in  the  year 
1852,  Newark  and  Brooklyn  in  1853,  and  Chicago  and  St. 
Louis  in  1854.  In  Jersey  City  the  office  was  for  several  years 
an  unsalaried  one,  and  was  held  by  merchants  and  other 
business  men,  the  duties  being  performed,  if  at  all,  in  a 
perfunctory  manner,  and  with  no  public  expectation  that 
thought-  or  time  would  be  put  into  the  service. 

But  the  most  unique  city  system  in  this  country  for  many 
years  was  that  of  Philadelphia.  Until  1883,  it,  among  all 
the  cities  of  the  United  States,  was  without  a  superintendent. 
In  the  midst  of  the  enthusiasm  aroused  by  the  centennial 
exhibit,  leading  citizens  of  the  city  organized  somewhat  in- 
formally, but  with  capital  and  enterprise,  the  "  Public  Edu- 
cation Society."  Meetings  were  held,  lectures  were  pro- 
vided, educational  systems  and  questions  were  studied,  teach- 
ers were  consulted,  the  papers  used,  and  the  city  officers  and 
general  public  educated.  Fiually,  with  a  school  census  of 
one  hundred  and  sixty  thousand  and  a  school  enrollment 
of  ninety  thousand,  with  twenty-five  hundred  teachers  and 
more  than  five  hundred  schools,  the  city  was  asked  to  pro- 
vide some  effective  supervision.  The  ward  committees,  the 
Central  Board,  and  municipal  officers,  readily  consented; 
and  (1883)  Superintendent  James  McAlister,  with  six  asso- 
ciates, was  given  the  schools  in  charge  to  work  out  a  system. 


112  THE  PERIOD  OF  REORGANIZATION. 

No  one,  who  would  imderstand  the  functions  and  relations 
of  school  supervision  in  the  United  States,  can  afford  to  miss 
a  comparative  study  of  Philadelphia  schools  in  the  years  he- 
fore  and  since  1883. 

From  recent  reports  it  appears  that  of  four  hundred  and 
seventeen  cities,  containing  five  thousand  inhabitants  or 
over,  but  thirty -eight  are  without  superintendents.  Among 
these  the  duties  are  nominally  performed  by  some  officer  of 
the  board,  as  was  the  case  in  the  early  experiment  in  Cleve- 
land, Ohio. 

It  would  seem  as  if  this  phase  of  centralization,  for  bring- 
ing which  into  New  England  Horace  Mann  was  severely 
censured,  had  become  a  fixed  principle  in  educational  econ- 
omy. Wisely  managed  the  investments  here  yield  the  rich- 
est of  all  returns.  It  is  skilled  labor  that  pays  best ;  next 
to  this  must  be  esteemed  skilled  oversight  of  average  labor. 
Three  fourths  of  the  teachers  of  the  country  at  large  have 
had  no  professional  training ;  of  the  others,  many  have  had 
but  little.  For  years  to  come,  then,  it  must  remain  true  that, 
on  an  administrative  basis  alone,  the  success  of  schools  can 
be  predicted  only  upon  the  maturest,  far-seeing  direction. 

But  this  is  only  the  infant  stage  of  school  control ;  it 
is  primitive  and  prudential.  It  has  to  do  with  the  acces- 
sories of  school  management,  whose  oflScers  are  stewards 
and  keepers.  There  is  a  higher  stage,  in  which  organization 
and  system,  the  regulation  of  the  machine,  and  the  general 
subordination  of  parts,  are  themselves  seen  as  means  ;  and 
the  effect  of  all  this  upon  the  learner,  the  real  object  of  in- 
quiry. This  phase  is  interrogative  and  inductive.  Facts 
must  be  gathered  as  data — facts  of  mind,  and  child-mind ; 
knowledge  of  the  race  and  its  environments  ;  observations 
of  men,  and  institutions  and  customs,  as  culture-yielding 
agencies  ;  systems  of  education  ;  the  bearings  of  science. 
Out  of  such  study  by  fearless  inquirers,  free  from  the  bias  of 
adopted  theories,  must  come,  if  at  all,  a  science  of  educa- 
tion. This  is  the  particular  function  of  a  city  superintend- 
ent.   Philbrick  in  Boston,  Harris  in  St.  Louis,  Pickard  in 


CENTRALIZING  TENDENCIES..  113 

Chicago,  and  RickoflP  in  Cincinnati  and  Cleveland,  have  each 
in  turn  given  the  schools  of  their  cities  distinctive  features  ; 
and,  what  is  far  more  to  the  purpose  of  an  advisory  super- 
vision, have  contributed  measxirably  to  the  body  of  the  edu- 
cational doctrine  of  the  present. 

When  the  superintendent  was  only  a  successful  teacher 
or  principal  promoted,  there  was  unavoidably  little  philo- 
sophical study  of  the  problem  and  conditions  of  education  ; 
but  with  the  professional  aspect  of  teaching  is  recognized  a 
demand  for  educators  fitted  for  supervision  and  criticism  ; 
for  men  whose  comprehensive  training,  habits  of  scientific 
thinking,  a  caj'ef  ul  and  continued  study  of  the  historical  as- 
pects of  education  and  its  kindred  philosophies,  entitle  them 
to  speak  with  authority  on  current  questions  and  in  the 
organization  of  systems.  No  one  can  better  render  this  serv- 
ice to  education  than  the  city  superintendents,  because  under 
no  other  circumstances  are  the  opportunities  of  manifold 
observation  and  repeated  comparison  and  verification  of 
pedagogical  facts  so  numerous  or  available. 

^.  County  Supervision. 

The  need  of  careful  school  inspection  in  rural  districts  is 
implied  in  conceding  any  supervision.  The  best  school, 
other  things  equal,  is  the  most  wisely  supervised  school,  of 
uniform  administration  and  professional  direction.  No 
interests  need  this  more  than  those  of  the  outlying  districts, 
subjected  to  hindrances  peculiar  to  sparsely  settled  and 
widely  separated  neighborhoods.* 

The  earliest  attempts  at  this  local  supervision  were  almost 
wholly  confined  to  the  management  and  investment  of 
funds,  the  control  of  school-lands,  and  the  services  which 
concerned  the  institution  as  a  material  organization.  As 
early  as  1834  in  Missouri,  the  civil  commissioners  of  the 

*  A  general  discussion  of  the  conditions  and  possibilities  of  rural 
schools  may  be  found  in  "  A  Graded  School  System  for  Country  Schools," 
by  L.  S.  Wade,  1881.    See  also  "  Courses  and  Methods,"  by  John  T.  Prince. 


114       THE  PERIOD  OF  REORGANIZATION. 

county  were  required  to  appoint  "  visitors  to  the  schools," 
nine  in  each  district,  who  were  to  visit  their  respective 
schools  once  in  three  months,  to  examine  teachers,  grant 
licenses,  and  to  exercise  "  general  supervisory  power."  Ten 
years  later,  three  trustees  were  made  to  take  the  place  of  the 
nine  visitors,  hut  with  like  duties.  The  control  was  of  the 
district.  In  Vermont,  ahout  1837,  and  in  Massachusetts  the 
same  year,  superintending  committees  of  towns  (townships) 
were  appointed,  with  functions  similar  to  those  of  the  select- 
men in  Massachusetts  and  Connecticut  towTis  a  century  he- 
fore.  The  very  literal  way  in  which  the  duties  of  these 
early  committees  have  been  adopted  by  the  more  recent 
county  supervisors  well  illustrates  the  evolution  of  the 
office  ;  it  has  been  in  most  instances  a  process  of  fixing  an 
existing  function  in  fewer  hands.  In  North  Carolina  also, 
for  many  years  deficient  in  execution,  but  forward  among 
States  to  recognize  and  adopt  the  best  current  thought  on 
education,  the  principle  of  more  or  less  general  control  of 
local  school  affairs  was  early  incorporated  into  the  school 
law.  In  the  year  1839,  counties  were  dii*ected  to  divide 
themselves  for  educational  purposes  into  six  districts,  each 
six  miles  square,  over  all  of  which  should  be  appointed  not 
less  than  five  superintendents ;  and  for  each  of  whose  school 
corporations  should  be  chosen  by  the  county  coiui,  not  less 
than  three  "  school  committee-men."  This  provided  a  more 
general  control  than  that  in  Missouri  fifteen  years  before, 
but  it  was  still  of  limited  districts.  The  belief  was  growing 
that  a  more  centralized  administration  of  schools  would 
conduce  to  their  efficiency.  County  control  (occasionally 
as  noted  above,  including  or  implying  township  or  district 
control)  was  tlie  next  step  in  the  development  of  school  sys- 
tems. 

In  New  York,  county  superintendents  were  authorized  by 
the  law  of  1841;  their  chief  function  being,  however,  con- 
fined to  hearing  appeals  from  local  officers.  There  was  no 
attempt  at  even  advisory  control.  The  law  was  repealed  six 
years  later,  and  before  its  revival  in  the  act  of  1856,  creating 


CENTRALIZING   TENDENCIES.  115 

the  disti'ict  commissioner's  office,  four  other  States  had  tried, 
and  proved  the  efficiency  of  the  plan.  California's  first  law 
incorporated  it,  and  Pennsylvania,  always  fearful  of  central- 
ized authority,  seemed  (1884)  wholly  to  forget  her  past,  or  to 
read  it  more  wisely,  and  abolishing  sub-district  committees, 
introduced  county  control,  uniformity  of  text-books,  and  a 
minimum  school  term,  Michigan  (1867)  adopted  the  county 
system,  but  after  eight  years'  trial  abolished  it,  and  now 
maintains  township  school  inspectors,  who  reix)rt  to  the 
secretary  of  the  County  Board  of  Examiners,  the  county 
clerk  acting  as  the  local  agent  of  the  State  in  financial 
affairs. 

Taking  county  supervision  as  a  general  term,  including 
all  forms  of  local  direction,  narrower  than  the  State,  and  out- 
side of  cities,  there  appears  much  diversity.  In  seven  States, 
comprising  Michigan,  and  all  of  New  England,  it  becomes 
township  supervision.  In  Arkansas,  North  Carolina,  and 
Texas,  it  is  almost  entirely  of  the  district ;  with  the  two  com- 
bined in  Louisiana,  Mississippi,  and  West  Virginia.  Alto- 
gether, thirty  States  and  five  Territories  have  a  fairly  well- 
defined  county  organization. 

The  diversity  in  the  modes  of  selecting  the  supervising 
officer,  especially  county  superintendents  is  striking.  In  one 
State  only,  Alabama,  they  are  appointed  by  the  State  Super- 
intendent, for  a  term  of  two  years ;  in  Delaware  and  Florida, 
by  the  Governor ;  in  Mississippi,  New  Jersey,  and  Virginia, 
by  the  State  Board.  The  County  Board  elects  in  Georgia, 
Maryland,  North  Carolina,  and  Indiana ;  the  school  directors 
in  Pennsylvania ;  and  the  town  (township)  superintendents 
in  Vermont.  In  thirteen  States  the  office  is  subject  to  gen- 
eral election ;  these  are  California,  Colorado,  Illinois,  Iowa, 
Minnesota,  Missouri,  Nebraska,  Nevada,  New  York,  Oregon, 
South  Carolina,  West  Virginia,  and  Wisconsin.  In  account- 
ing for  this  diversity,  something  must  be  ascribed  to  differing 
social  and  political  conditions,  something  to  official  inher- 
itances, but  far  more  to  an  imperfect  understanding  of  the 
means  and  resources  of  real  education. 


11(J  THE  PERIOD  OF  REORGANIZATION. 

In  most  States  one  of  the  duties  of  the  office  is  to  visit 
schools,  though  this  is  not  universal  by  any  means.  Why 
it  should  not  be  is  difficult  to  say.  Less  than  this  makes 
a  business  office  only.  If  supervising  schools  means  any- 
thing, it  implies  familiarity  with  the  management  within 
the  room,  methods,  discipline,  and  the  means  and  character 
of  instruction.  It  means  counsel  and  criticism.  Less  than 
this  may  be  needful  as  precautionary  and  economic  meas- 
ures ;  but  these  are  in  no  sense  professional,  and  contribute 
only  indirectly  to  the  school  as  an  agency  of  culture. 

Another  duty  usually  assigned  to  the  local  supervisor  is 
that  of  examining  and  licensing  teachers.  This,  indeed,  has 
been  one  of  the  functions  of  school  inspectors  for  two  hun- 
dred years.  In  twenty  of  the  States,  of  very  unlike  organi- 
zation, the  offices  of  supervisor  and  examiner  rest  in  the 
same  person.  Whether  this  is  well,  has  been  questioned; 
but  the  practice  widely  prevails. 

Bibliography. 

"School  Supervision,"  by  "W.  H.  Pa}Tic;  "School  Inspection,"  by 
D.  R.  Fcaron,  1876;  the  "Supervision  of  Schools,"  in  "Proceedings 
of  National  Educational  Association,"  1887,  p.  512;  "Supervision  of 
Schools  in  Massachesetts,"  by  A.  D.  Mayo,  "  Unitarian  Review,"  vol.  vii, 
p.  400 ;  "  City  School  Systems  of  the  United  States,"  by  J.  D.  Philbrick, 
published  by  the  United  States  Bureau  of  Education  as  Circular  1 — 1885  ; 
"  City  Supervision,"  by  R.  W.  Stevenson,  in  "  Proceedings  of  National 
Educational  Association,"  1884,  p.  283,  also  "  Proceedings  of  the  National 
Council  of  Education,"  1 884,  p.  26  ;  and  the  Annual  reports  of  Dr.  W.  T. 
Harris,  St.  Louis,  1867-79.  The  "Inspection  of  Country  Schools,"  by 
J.  D.  Philbrick,  in  "  American  Social  Science  Journal,"  vol.  ii,  p.  1 1 ; 
and,  in  general,  "The  School,  its  Rights  and  Duties,"  by  J.  H.'Hoosc,  in 
"  Proceedings  of  National  Educational  Association,"  1876,  p.  167.  See 
"Life  of  Horace  Mann,"  by  Mrs.  Mary  Mann  (1881),  and  his  collected 
"  Lectures  and  Reports,"  1872. 


THE  PREPARATION  OF  TEACHERS.  117 

CHAPTER  VIII. 

THE  PREPARATION  OF  TEACHERS. 

The  changes  already  noted  as  accompanying  the  educa- 
tional awakening  were  administrative.  The  transformation 
on  the  professional  side,  in  the  school  course,  the  teacher, 
the  objects  and  character  of  discipline,  etc.,  was  not  less 
complete.  The  administrative  function  preceded,  not  be- 
cause it  must — logicaUy,  the  changed  function  of  the  school 
should  work  out  its  own  adapted  organization — but  because 
the  former  want,  being  professional  and  technical,  was  not 
generally  recognized.  A  few  men  fifty  years  ago,  fewer 
yet  ten  years  earlier,  saw  both  the  need  and  the  remedy; 
crudely  it  may  be,  and  vaguely,  but  well  in  advance  of  the 
common  mind.  From  then*  lectures  and  addresses  and  ser- 
mons, their  books,  the  classes  they  taught,  and  their  persist- 
ent infl.uence  on  public  and  legislative  sentiment,  have  de- 
veloped, not  only  normal  schools,  but  the  earlier  occasional 
classes,  institutes,  associations,  journals,  etc. 

It  is  a  large  interest  and,  from  the  pedagogir'al  standpoint, 
of  the  first  importance.* 

1.  Educational  Associations. 

The  principle  of  co-operation  is  fundamental  in  a  repub- 
lic ;  it  is  the  soul  of  both  its  individual  and  institutional  life. 
Social  friction  and  the  free  interchange  of  experience  pre- 
suppose a  degree  of  equality ;  and  equality,  in  turn,  incites 
to  combination.  The  individual  is  strong  in  proportion  as 
he  takes  to  himself  the  experience  of  all;  each  is  increased 
as  he  gives  to  all. 

Societies,  then — combinations  of  individuals  founded  upon 
a  like  interest,  looking  to  the  accomplishment  of  the  same 

*  "  Good  teachers,"  said  Dr.  Philbrick,  "  and  what  next?  There  is  no 
next." 


118  THE  PERIOD  OF  UEORGANIZATION. 

object,  and  that  a  general  good — are  in  consonance  with  the 
organic  law  of  our  government.  In  a  sketch  of  the  people's 
culture,  to  leave  out  of  view  their  organization,  and  the  joint 
services  of  individuals,  would  be  to  miss  a  powerful  agent  in 
the  upbuilding  of  our  national  life.  Associations  may  be 
classified,  according  to  their  objects,  as — 

1.  Those  looking  to  the  general  good,  through  the  estab- 
lishment and  efficient  administration  of  institutions  and  or- 
ganizations. 

2.  Those  whose  purpose  is  the  promotion  of  professional 
or  class  interests. 

3.  Those  organized  to  investigate,  discover,  invent;  to 
add  to  the  sum  of  human  knowledge. 

To  the  first  belong  missionary  organizations,  school  and 
manumission  societies,  and  x>olitical  parties.  It  includes 
most  organized  effort,  indeed,  as  lectxire  associations,  village 
improvement  societies,  temperance  and  other  reforms,  etc. 
It  is  a  potent  agency,  and,  well  used,  one  of  the  most  fruitful 
means  of  progress.  With  the  second  may  be  classed  profes- 
sional associations,  conventions  made  permanent,  industrial 
guilds,  fraternities,  and  sects.  Philosophical  and  scientific 
societies  are  representative  of  the  last,  and  form  a  large 
class.  A  consideration  of  such  of  these,  in  so  far  as  they 
are  educational  from  the  school  or  professional  side,  is  the 
aim  of  this  section.  The  consideration  of  the  third  class 
will  be  left  mainly  to  a  subsequent  paragraph. 

A.    SOCIETIES    FOR   THE   PROMOTION   OF   SCHOOLS. 

To  one  who  is  familiar  with  the  current  governmental 
administration  of  schools  only,  the  recital  of  how  large  a 
part  in  education  voluntary  association  played  fifty  years 
ago  in  this  country,  must  seem  an  exaggeration.  It  biiilt  up 
schools,  and  supplied  houses,  and  found  and  prepared  teach- 
ers ;  it  manipulated  parties  and  draughted  laws  ;  it  formed 
public  opinion,  and  mitiated  reforms.  Whatever  was  best 
done  in  New  York  and  Pennsylvania,  in  Rhode  Island  and 
the  South,  and  especially  in  the  newer  States  of  the  North 


THE  PREPARATION  OF  TEACHERS.       119 

and  West,  in  Ohio  and  Indiana  and  Kentucky,  was  the 
work  of  organized  societies.  The  earlier  habit  of  Massa- 
chusetts and  Connecticut  is  in  this  respect  in  strong  contrast 
with  that  of  other  colonies  and  States,  and  even  with  their 
own  later  history. 

Rhode  Island  had  no  attempt  at  a  school  system  until 
the  Mechanics'  Institute  of  Providence  took  it  in  hand.  In 
New  York  city,  the  "  Free  School  Society "  established  the 
first  permanent  schools  (1805),  and  through  the  law  of  1813 
secured  the  present  system.  The  Philadelphia  Society  for 
the  Support  of  Charity  Schools  (1790)  was  the  prime  mover 
in  all  the  important  school  legislation,  not  only  of  Philadel- 
phia but  of  Pennsylvania,  for  forty  years. 

Of  a  like  general  nature,  but  of  broader  field,  was  the  Col- 
lege Society  formed  at  Yale,  1829,  to  assist  collegiate  and 
theological  students  in  the  "West.  lUiaois  College,  at  Jack- 
sonville, was  founded  and  for  many  years  supported  by  it. 
The  Western  Baptist  Educational  Association  organized  a 
little  later  ''  for  the  promotion  of  schools  and  education 
generally  in  the  valley  of  the  Mississippi,"  sent  teachers  to 
both  Indiana  and  Illinois  ;  and  ten  years  after  (1844)  a 
society,  formed  and  controlled  under  the  counsel  of  Miss 
Catherine  E.  Beecher,  the  Board  of  National  Popular  Edu- 
cation, sent  West  not  less  than  five  hundred  teachers,  sev- 
eral of  whom  became  eminently  successful  and  widely 
known. 

About  the  same  time  was  another  organization  *  whose 
services  deserve  mention,  for  it  operated  in  half  a  dozen 
States,  and  aided  twice  as  many  colleges  that  must  othervvise 
have  succumbed  to  misfortune.  Nowhere  were  the  finan- 
cial reverses  of  1837-'42  more  seriously  felt  than  in  the  then 
new  West ;  and  by  no  institutions  more  than  by  the  col- 
leges and  schools.  Twenty  institutions  for  superior  instruc- 
tion had  been  founded  in  Iowa,  Illinois,  Michigan,  Indiana^ 
Ohio,  and  Kentucky,  in  the  fifteen  years  after  1825.    Not 

*  The  "VTestem  College  Society. 


120  THE  PERIOD  OF  REORGANIZATION. 

one  of  them  was  endowed,  few  had  even  a  moderate  support 
at  best,  and,  as  the  little  property  they  held  was  chiefly  in 
unimproved  laud,  it  was  unproductive.  It  seemed  as  if 
numbers  of  these  colleges  must  surrender  their  charters. 
Most  of  them,  of  course,  were  denominational,  and  in  1843, 
delegates  of  churches  representing  Wabash,  Illinois,  Mari- 
etta, and  Western  Reserve  Colleges,  and  Lane  Theological 
Seminary,  met  representatives  of  Eastern  churches  to  confer 
on  the  state  of  Western  education.  The  heavy  losses  of 
these  institutions  (approximating  two  hundred,  thousand 
dollars),  already  greatly  aided  by  the  East,  were  strong  ap- 
peals for  renewed  help.  An  organization  was  effected,  un- 
der the  name  of  the  Western  College  Society,  "to  afford 
assistance  in  such  manner  and  so  long  only  as,  in  the 
judgment  of  the  directors,  the  exigencies  of  the  institutions 
may  demand."  Besides  the  five  colleges  first  aided,  nine 
others  received  help  at  various  times  in  thirty  years.  More 
than  half  a  million  dollars  were  contributed  at  the  East,  and 
twice  as  much  in  the  West,  to  promote  the  objects  of  this 
managfement.  Half  the  institutions  became  independent 
before  1860,  and  the  others  soon  after.  The  Western  Col- 
lege Society  did  an  eminent  service. 

B.    SOCIETIES    FOR    THE    IMPROTEHENT   OF  TKACHERS. 

Supplementing  these  general  endeavors,  sometimes  fol- 
lowing them,  were  special  organizations  of  teachers  for  mu- 
tual improvement  and  professional  advancement.  Mem- 
bers of  the  first  class  (a)  were  frequently  not  teachers,  but 
bvisiness  men,  lawyers,  public  officers,  and  especially  the 
clergy.  The  second  class  was  composed  of  teachers.  Indeed, 
membership  in  the  profession  was,  at  first,  a  condition  of 
membership  in  the  association.  These  were  local  and, 
largely,  expedients.  They  were  at  once  a  product  and  a 
sign  of  the  awakening  interest  in  education  and  educational 
institutions  in  the  third  and  fom-th  decades  of  the  century. 
Reference  has  been  found  to  but  one  earlier. 


THE  PREPARATION  OF  TEACHERS.  121 

The  Middlesex  County  School  Association  of  Massachu- 
setts was  in  existence  in  1799.  A  generation  later,  Essex 
Cotmty  formed  a  like  society,  and,  among  States,  Florida, 
followed  by  the  Utica  Convention  of  "  teachers  and  friends 
of  education  "  in  New  York.  About  the  same  time  (1829),  in 
Cincinnati,  was  organized,  under  the  lead  of  Albert  Picket, 
the  "  Western  Academic  Institute  and  Board  of  Education," 
merged  three  years  later  in  the  '*  Western  Literary  Institute 
and  College  of  Professional  Teachers,"  which  for  ten  years 
was  almost  the  one  regenerative  agency  in  Ohio  education.* 
It  sought  to  promote,  by  every  laudable  means,  the  diffusion 
of  knowledge  in  regard  to  education,  and  especially  by  the 
elevation  of  the  character  and  qualifications  of  the  teachers. 
Among  the  members  wei-e  Lyman  Beecher,  Prof.  C.  E.  Stowe, 
B.  O.  Peers,  and  Samuel  Lewis.  Money  was  contributed, 
and  a  school  agent  appointed  to  visit  the  schools  of  the  State. 
This  was  an  attemj)t  at  a  general  supervision  ten  years  before 
the  first  State  Superintendent.  Ladies  were  not  admitted  as 
members;  though  Mrs.  L.  H.  Sigourney  (1836),  and  again 
Mrs.  Emma  Willard,  were  allowed  to  submit  papers  on 
female  education,  which  were  read  by  men. 

The  work  of  these  societies,  and  of  such  men  and  women 
in  behalf  of  education  at  the  West,  was  having  its  effect. 
Associations  of  teachers  were  held  in  Kentucky,  Georgia, 
Tennessee,  Illmois,  and  Michigan  prior  to  1840.  The  State 
Associations  of  Massachusetts,  Connecticut,  and  Ehode  Island 
were  all  organized  in  1845,  and  still  exist.  Established  later 
(1863),  but  of  the  same  class  of  State  organizations,  is  the 
"  University  Convocation  of  the  State  of  New  York,"  than 
which  perhaps  no  State  Association  has  performed  a  more 
eminent  and  lasting  service  for  good.  It  concerns  sec- 
ondary and  collegiate  interests  chiefly,  and  admits :  1.  Mem- 
bers of  the  Board  of  Regents.     2.  Instructors  in  colleges, 

*  At  the  second  meeting  occurred  Thomas  S.  Grimke's  arraignment  of 
the  classics  and  mathematics,  as  subjects  of  study,  and  his  enthusiastic 
commendation  of  scienoo. 


122  THE  PERIOD  OF  REORGANIZATION. 

normal  schools,  academies,  and  other  institutions  under 
the  care  of  the  regents  and  their  trustees.  3.  The  presi- 
dent, vice-presidents,  and  secretaries  of  the  New  York  State 
Teachers'  Association.  In  1867  representatives  of  colleges 
in  other  States  were  invited  to  membership.* 

The  "  Northwestern  Educational  Association  "  originated 
in  a  teachers'  institute  held  in  Chicago  1846.  Nine  States 
were  represented.  It  marked  an  era  in  Western  school  ex- 
perience, consolidating  the  interests  of  these  States.  They 
were  compacted  into  a  section.  What  was  best  anywhere, 
the  sooner  became  common  property.  "  Free  schools,  grada- 
tion, teachers'  seminaries,  institutes,  State  appropriations, 
and  supervision,  were  all  made  easier  by  the  common  recom- 
mendation and  support. 

The  earliest  settled,  New  England  preceded  most  other 
sections  in  professional  agencies.  Almost  a  score  of  years 
before  the  association  last  named,  the  "  American  Institute 
of  Instruction  "  was  organized  in  Boston.  It  was  incorpo- 
rated (1831)  "  for  the  diffusion  of  useful  knowledge  in  regard 
to  education."  In  its  earlier  meetings,  and  regularly  for 
many  years,  were  Goold  Brown,  Warren  Colbum,  Judge 
Story,  Horace  Mann,  D.  P.  Page,  Denison  Olmsted,  and 
Bishop  Huntington.  Charles  Northend  talked  on  "Com- 
mon Schools,"  and  Hermann  Kriisi  told  the  story  of  Pesta- 
lozzi.  It  was  a  veritable  teachers'  school,  when  such  were 
few.  While  its  meetings  have  been  chiefly  confined  to  New 
^  England,  its  influences  were  long  general,  and  for  thirty 
years  it  was  the  only  recognized  national  organization. 

Out  of  this,  perhaps  urged  by  the  apparent  insuificiency 
of  it,  grew  the  "  National  Educational  Association."  Its  gen- 
eral purposes  were  set  forth  in  the  first  inaugural  address  of 
President  Richards,  1858,  as :  1.  The  union  of  all  sections  in 
friendly  associated  action.    2.  The  creation  of  a  teaching 

*  A  history  and  resume  of  the  work  of  the  Convocation  since  its  oi^gani- 
zation  may  be  found  in  the  "  Historical  and  Statistical  Record  of  the 
University  of  the  State  of  New  York,  1885,"  pp.  7S9-«34. 


THE  PREPARATION  OF  TEACHERS.        123 

profession,  by  professional  methods.  3.  The  accrediting  of 
teachers  by  proper  examining  boards.  4.  The  establishment 
of  departments  of  pedagogics  in  connection  with  all  schools 
which  send  out  persons  to  teach.  In  thirty  years  the  work 
of  the  association  has  been  much  specialized,  and  doubtless 
to  advantage.  Besides  the  genei-al  body,  there  are  now  nine 
departments  :  1.  School  Superintendence.  2.  Higher  In- 
struction. 3.  Normal  Schools.  4.  Industrial  Education. 
5.  Art  Education.  6.  Music  Education.  7.  Kindergai'ten 
Instruction.  8.  Elementary  Schools.  9.  Secondary  Instruc- 
tion. Besides  these  also  is  the  "Council  of  Education,"  a 
deliberative  body  whose  members  are  chosen  from  the  gen- 
eral association.  This  was  organized  in  1881,  having  for  its 
object  "  to  reach  and  disseminate  correct  thinking  on  educa- 
tional questions."    It  has  standing  committees  as  follows  : 

1.  On  State  School  Systems.       7.  On  Technical  Education. 

2.  On  City  School  Systems.        8.  On  Pedagogics. 

3.  On  Higher  Education.  9.  On  Education  of  Girls. 

4.  On  Secondary  Education.  10.  On  Hygiene  in  Education. 

5.  On  Elementary  Education.  11.  On  Educational  Literature. 

6.  On  Normal  Education.  12.  On  Educational  Statistics. 

The  modern  Industrial  and  Scientific  Exposition  also  has 
come  to  be  utilized  as  the  occasion  for  conference  on  edu- 
cational questions. 

2.  Institutes. 

Somewhat  more  specific  in  aim  than  the  associations  and 
conferences,  but  more  general  than  normal  schools,  is  the 
"  Institute."  This  has  been  characterized  *  as  a  peculiarly 
American  institution.  Yet  to  an  American  it  is  not  easy  to 
formulate  the  sufiicient  distinction  between  it  and  other 
agencies  for  the  training  of  teachers.  Its  function  varies  in 
different  States.  It  is  all  things  to  all  sections.  An  eclectic 
agency,  it  supplem.ents  the  normal  school  with  something 

*  Francis  Adams,  "  Free  School  System  of  the  United  States,"  p.  65. 


124  THE  PERIOD   OF  REORGANIZATION. 

of  the  function  of  tlie  annual  conference,  but,  more  frequent 
and  local,  is  also  more  personal.*  Under  present  conditions 
with  few  institutions  for  formal  training,  and  three  hundred 
thousand  teachers,  uncertain  employment  and  temporary, 
•and  an  unsettled  professional  code,  it  must  long  remain  that 
these,  and  every  contributing  means,  will  be  needed  for  the 
better  fitting  of  teachers. 

As  early  as  1834  an  institute  was  reported  to  the  "  Col- 
lege of  Teachers,"  as  held  in  one  of  the  counties  in  Ohio  ; 
and,  in  the  same  year,  perhaps,  one  assembled  in  Boston  for 
the  instruction  of  teachers  of  music.  Five  years  later,  and 
just  prior  to  the  first  State  normal  schools,  Mr.  Barnard, 
then  School  Commissioner  of  Connecticut,  called  his  teachers 
together  at  Hartford,  and  again  in  the  spring  of  the  following 
year.  Tliese  gatherings  were  at  his  own  expense,  and  enrolled 
twenty  to  thirty  teachers,  with  a  faculty  of  seven  instructors,  f 

The  first  institute,  so  named,  was  held  in  Tompkins 
County,  New  York,  by  Superintendent  J.  S.  Denman,  1843. 
It  continued  two  weeks,  under  the  instruction  of  Hon.  Salem 
Town,  and  was,  says  the  school  report  for  that  year,  "a 
revelation  of  the  large  sphere  of  this  new  agent  in  school 
improvement."  Two  years  afterward,  the  State  reported 
institutes  in  seventeen  counties.  They  were  introduced  into 
Rhode  Island  in  1844,  and  into  Ohio,  Michigan,  and  Massa- 
chusetts the  next  year.  In  certain  States  they  began  to  re- 
ceive financial  aid,  and  so  became  a  part  of  the  general  sys- 
tem. Before  1850  they  were  common  in  a  dozen  States,  and 
reached  hundreds  of  teachers  who  must  otherwise  have  had 
no  reliable  professional  training. 

There  are  now  J  State  and  district  organizations  main- 

*  Prof.  Payne  has  described  it  as  a  "  normal  ecbool  with  a  very  short 
course  of  study." 

t  Among  tliem,  besides  Mr.  Barnard,  were  Prof.  Charles  Davies  and 
Ecv.  T.  H.  GaUaudet. 

X  For  a  very  complete  exhibit  of  "Teachers'  Institutes,"  see  "  Bureau 
Circular  of  luformation,"  Ko.  2,  18S5,  prepared  by  lion.  J.  II.  Smart,  of 
Indiana. 


THE  PREPARATION  OF  TEACHERS.       126 

tained  in  Alabama  (for  colored  teachers),  Arkansas,  Florida, 
Massachusetts,  Minnesota,  Nevada,  New  York,  North  Caro- 
lina, Rhode  Island,  South  Carolina,  Texas,  and  West  Vir- 
ginia ;  and  county  institutes  in  half  of  the  States.  Twelve 
States — Colorado,  Connecticut,  Delaware,  Georgia,  Kentucky, 
Louisiana,  Maine,  Mississippi,  Missouri,  New  Hampshire,  Ore- 
gon, and  Tennessee — report  neither,  regularly  held.  Sixteen 
make  State  appropriations  in  their  aid,  and  six,  county  ap- 
propriations. 

In  seven  States — California,  Maryland,  Nebraska,  New 
Jersey,  North  Carolina,  Virginia,  and  West  Virginia — attend- 
ance is  compulsory.  It  is  estimated  that  not  less  than  one 
hundred  and  fifty  thousand  teachers  receive  annually,  an 
average  of  six  days'  instruction  by  means  of  these  State  and 
local  institutes. 

In  addition  to  these  also,  are  those  in  cities,  more  or  less 
regularly  held,  generally  under  the  direction  of  the  superin- 
tendent, and,  in  the  larger  cities,  set  off  into  sections,  each 
doing  the  particular  work  of  its  department.  Of  ninety-six 
cities  reporting  teachers'  meetings,  forty-four  make  attend- 
ance upon  them  compulsory.  Some  of  them  have  informal 
courses,  which,  pursued  for  successive  years,  would  do  credit 
to  many  a  so-called  normal  school.  Almost  no  agency,  ex- 
cepting a  formal  and  established  course  of  training,  can  do 
so  much  for  the  right  guidance  of  the  teacher,  the  sharpen- 
ing of  her  understanding,  and  the  full  rounding  of  her  pro- 
fessional character,  as  the  frequent  meeting,  under  wise 
direction,  of  a  body  of  teachers  in  daily  co-operation  ^d 

intercourse. 

3.  Normal  Schools. 

From  the  earliest  times,  the  fitness  of  the  teacher  has 
been  held  as  one  condition  of  the  learner's  advancement. 
Adaptation  to  the  work  of  instruction  is  one  measure  of  the 
best  service.  Not  knowledge  alone,  nor  maturity,  nor  a 
faithful  conscience,  can  excuse  inaptitude  and  want  of  skill 
in  address  and  presentation.  "  The  art  of  well  delivering 
the  knowledge  we  possess,"  said  Lord  Bacon,  "  is  among  the 


126       THE  PERIOD  OF  REORGANIZATION. 

secrets  left  to  be  discovered  by  future  generations."  This 
"  delivering  the  knowledge  we  possess  "  has  since  been  de- 
veloped into  a  system,  whose  like  even  the  fertile  mind  of 
Bacon,  but  dimly  perceived.  Thei^  has  come  to  be  among 
every  civilized  people  a  more  or  less  specialized  class,  whose 
business  it  is  to  instruct,  and  whose  preparation  is  the  work 
of  a  particular  institution. 

That  it  was  not  always  so — that  it  is,  indeed,  of  compara- 
tively recent  times — ^needs  only  to  be  mentioned.  Harvard 
had  been  founded  fifty  years  before  the  first  known  teach- 
ers' seminary ;  the  school  systems  of  New  England  were  in 
operation;  and  Mr.  Cheever,  now  an  old  man,  had  been 
himself  the  most  famous  master  of  his  time,  and  had  edu- 
cated many  others.  The  teacher  then,  and  long  since,  was 
himself  only  the  best  instructed  ;  now  he  was  the  parent, 
and  then  the  pastor;  here,  the  yoiing  man  fitted  or  fitting 
for  the  professions,  and  so  possessed  of  a  real  or  supposed 
superiority  among  his  fellows ;  there,  again,  he  was  any  one 
whose  leisure  or  inclinations  led  him  to  choose  this  as  a 
business. 

But,  along  with  other  social  and  economic  interests, 
teaching,  in  its  vital  importance,  worked  a  specialization  of 
institution — an  organization  adapted  to  the  new  function. 

A.    ITS    ET7R0PKAN    ORIGIN, 

As  with  many  another  institution,  so  with  this,  it  had 
its  genesis  in  the  older  civilization  and  more  closely  discrimi- 
nated social  interests  of  Europe. 

The  earliest  school  of  the  kind  of  which  record  is  had 
was  that  founded  at  Rheims  (1681)  by  the  Abbe  de  la  Salle.* 
This  developed,  three  years  later,  into  the  now  famous 
Christian  Brothers'  School,  and  became  widely  influential. 
By  Hermann  August  Francke,  the  distinguished  German 

*  A  man  of  progressive,  modem  thought,  he  introduced,  besides  nor- 
mal schools,  gradation,  and  object-lessons,  and  established  industrial 
Bchoob,  polTtechnic  institutes  and  reformatories. 


THE  PREPARATION  OF  TEACHERS.       127 

educator,  and  Johann  Julius  Hecker,  his  follower,  it  was  in- 
troduced into  Germany — by  the  latter  into  Berlin  (1748). 
Before  the  century  closed,  Prussia  had  six  normal  schools, 
and  became  the  center  from  which  radiated  the  professional 
spirit  to  other  European  systems  and  to  the  United  States. 

B.    BEGINNINGS   OF    THE    IDEA   IN   THE    UNITED   STATES. 

As  early  as  1789  Elisha  Tickuor  had  urged,  in  the  "  Mas- 
sachusetts Magazine,"  that  steps  be  taken  for  the  improve- 
ment of  education  and  the  common  intelligence,  and  to  this 
end  recommended  the  establishment  of  a  system  of  "  county 
schools  to  fit  young  gentlemen  for  college  and  school-keep- 
ing." It  was  claimed  by  Noah  Webster  also,  about  the 
same  time,  that  "  the  principal  defect  in  the  plan  of  educa- 
tion, in  America,  was  the  want  of  good  teachers  in  the 
academies  and  common  schools."  Without  doubt  these 
were  the  expressions  of  a  common  feeling,  whose  develop- 
ment and  realization  belong  to  the  present  century. 

(1.)  Lancasterianism. 

The  monitorial  system  of  instruction,  originated  in  1797, 
by  Dr.  Andrew  Bell,  and  elaborated  and  promoted  by  Jo- 
seph Lancaster,  was  early  introduced  into  the  schools  of  the 
United  States.*  Ten  years  before  Lancaster  visited  this 
country,  the  method  had  gained  a  foothold  in  half  a  dozen 
States — a  ground  which  it  held  for  half  a  century  in  New 
York  and  Philadelphia,  and  in  Maryland  and  elsewhere 
even  longer. 

As  early  as  1810  the  Public  School  Society  of  New  York 
city,  employing  the  system,  opened  a  school  for  female  moni- 
tors, and  six  years  later  a  similar  one  for  males.  By  invi- 
tation of  this  society,  Mr.  Lancaster,  on  his  tour  through  the 
States  (1818),  lectured  in  New  York,  and  so  impressed  his 
hearers  with  the  eJQBciency  of  his  system  that  leading  edu- 

*  See  GUI's  "  Systems  of  Education,"  p.  162,  and  "  History  of  the  Ele- 
mentary School  Contest  in  England,"  by  F.  Adams,  p.  48. 


128  THE  PERIOD  OF  REORGANIZATION. 

cators  regarded  it  as  marking  a  new  era  in  education. 
Though  falling  short  of  the  early  claims  for  it,  its  history 
in  this  country  exhibits  one  phase  of  the  development  of 
teachers'  training  that  can  not  be  ignored. 

(2.)  Early  Promoters  of  the  Normal  Schools.* 

There  were  as  yet  no  very  definite  ideas  as  to  the  system- 
atic and  thorough  ti*aiaing  of  teachers.  Lancasterianism 
was  only  a  device,  at  best,  for  the  crudest  of  information- 
giving.  Schools  were  at  a  low  ebb  and  instruction  me- 
diocre. Nevertheless,  forces  were  shaping  themselves  for 
the  greatest  educational  event  of  the  century. 

Upon  taking  his  master's  degree  at  Yale,  1816,  Denison 
Olmsted  read  a  thesis  on  "  The  State  of  Education  in  Con- 
necticut," in  which  he  elaborated  a  plan  of  an  "  Academy 
for  Schoolmasters."  In  New  York,  since  1787,  the  incorpo- 
rated academies,  along  with  the  colleges,  had  been  under  the 
supervision  of  the  Regents  of  the  University.  About  1821 
the  State  making  an  annual  appropriation  to  such  of  the 
academies  as  were  judged  worthy,  they  came  to  be  looked 
to  for  a  supply  of  teachers  for  the  common  schools,  tliis 
being  made  the  basis,  two  years  later,  of  a  claim  for  a 
generous  distribution  of  funds.  Almost  simultaneously, 
William  Russell,  of  Massachusetts,  and  W.  R.  Johnson, 
of  Pennsylvania,  Rev.  Thomas  Gallaudet,  of  Connecticut, 
and  Dr.  Philip  Lindsley,  of  New  Jersey,  all  submitted,  each 
unknown  to  the  others,  petitions  and  plans  for  teachers' 
preparatory  schools. 

Previously,  however.  Prof.  S.  R.  Hall,  of  New  Hamp- 
shire, minister,  teacher,  and  writer,  called  to  a  church  at 
Concord,  in  that  State,  accepted  the  invitation,  on  condition 
that  he  be  allowed  to  open  a  "  teachers'  school. "  Here,  in 
the  year  1823,  he  opened  a  private  seminary,  chiefly  for 
those  who  would  teach,  but  admitting  a  class  of  children, 

*  The  "  American  Journal  of  Education"  is  full  of  information  touch- 
ing the  rise  of  teachers'  seminaries,  especially  vols,  ii,  iii,  and  v. 


THE  PREPARATION  OF  TEACHERS.       129 

which  he  used,  in  instruction  and  discipline,  as  a  model  and 
practice  school.  In  this  village,  away  from  libraries  and 
great  teachers  and  the  universities,  were  first  delivered  the 
talks  and  lessons  which,  published  in  1829,  as  "  Lectures  on 
School-keeping,"  were  spread  broadcast  through  New  Eng- 
land and  the  central  States.  He  continued  in  this  school 
seven  years.  From  1830  to  1837  he  was  at  Andover,  and  the 
next  three  years  at  Plymouth,  New  Hampshire,  at  both  of 
which  places  he  was  principal  of  the  only  established  teach- 
ers' seminaries  outside  of  New  York,  until  the  Massachu- 
setts Normal  School  was  founded  in  1839.  At  Andover 
the  "Normal  Department"  had  a  three  years'  course, 
including  fifty  lectures  on  the  "Art  of  Teaching."  At 
Plymouth,  during  the  year  when  Massachusetts  got  her 
first  normal  school,  it  had  two  hundred  and  fifty  students, 
and  was  furnishing  teachers  for  all  the  adjoining  towns. 
Mr.  Hall  is  the  American  Hecker — the  pioneer  in  the  work 
which  most  distinguishes  recent  from  early  schooling  in 
the  United  States.* 

(3.)  Acquaintance  •with  European  Systems. 

Another  efficient  influence  of  the  period  was  the  spread- 
ing of  a  knowledge  of  German  and  other  foreign  schools. 
Rev.  Charles  Brooks,  visiting  Europe,  in  1834,  became  ac- 
quainted, through  friends,  with  the  Prussian  system,  and 
especially  with  their  training  of  teachers.  Eeturning  in 
1835,  he  urged  the  establishment  of  normal  schools  in  this 
country,  enforcing  the  need  and  the  advantage  by  a  vigor- 
ous exposition  of  Prussian  teaching  ;  lectured  in  every  New 
England  State,  in  New  York  and  Pennsylvania,  and  ad- 
dressed the  Legislatures  of  most  of  them.  Prof.  A.  D.  Bache, 
President  of  Girard  College,  also  went  abroad  (1836)  on  a 

*  Mr.  Hall  was  the  author  of  a  number  of  school-books,  some  of  which 
were  much  used  in  their  day — a  "  Child's  Geography,"  a  "  School  Arith- 
metic," the  "  Grammatical  Assistant,"  and  a  "  School  History  of  the  United 
States,"  besides  a  volume  of  "  Lectures  to  Female  Teachers." 


130       TDE  PERIOD  OF  REORGANIZATION. 

professional  tour,  visiting  and  inspecting  the  schools  of 
England,  Scotland,  Germany,  Holland,  Switzerland,  France, 
and  Italy  ;  and  upon  his  return  published  a  volume  of 
six  hundred  pages  on  "European  Educational  Institu- 
tions," Chapter  IX  of  which,  "Seminaries  for  the  Educa- 
tion of  Teachers  for  Primary  Schools,"  is  especially  valu- 
able, and  was  then  most  timely,  as  characterizing  the  train- 
ing system  of  the  principal  European  countries.  Prof. 
Calvin  E.  Stowe  had  recently  returned  from  a  similar 
visit  to  those  countries,  and  his  report  to  the  Ohio  Legis- 
lature, on  the  "Elementary  Schools  of  Europe,"  set  new 
standards  for  the  West. 

Later,  the  studies  of  Mann  and  Barnard  and  Gallaudet 
in  the  same  schools,  added  to  the  contributions,  and  made 
the  improvement  of  American  teaching  an  easier  task. 
Events  were  shaping  themselves  with  more  definiteness. 
Grimke,  of  South  Carolina,  Pickett  and  Lewis,  of  Ohio, 
Emerson,  of  Massachusetts,  Gallaudet,  of  Connecticut,  John- 
son, of  Pennsylvania,  and  Clinton,  of  New  York,  were  fixing 
public  sentiment  in  their  respective  States.* 

C.   STATE   MORUAL   SCHOOLS. 

But  the  one  man  to  whom,  more  than  to  any  other,  must 
be  credited  the  permanent  public  normal  school,  and  the 
systematic  training  of  teachers,  is  the  Rev.  James  G.  Carter. 
All  other  service  was  good  ;  beside  his  it  was  occasional,  or 
an  expedient,  and,  at  best,  suggestive.  Prof.  Emerson  calls 
him  the  "Father  of  Normal  Schools."  Bom  in  the  last 
century,  he  graduated  at  Harvard,  1820,  and  at  once  began 
writing  upon  education.    In  1824  he  published  "  Essays  on 

*  In  March,  1834,  there  was  opened  the  Indiana  Teachere'  Serainaiy, 
one  express  design  of  whose  founding  was,  in  the  words  of  the  trustees,  "a 
provision  for  the  qualification  of  school-teachers' ;  and  three  years  later 
there  was  formed  in  Maine  the  "  Teachers'  Association  of  Bowdoin  Col- 
lege," composed  of  students,  and  which  was,  in  all  but  name,  a  teachers' 
class,  or  club. 


THE  PREPARATION  OF  TEACHERS.       131 

Popular  Education  "  ;  and  two  yeai-s  later  a  second  volume, 
including  an  elaborated  plan  *  for  the  education  of  teachers. 
The  same  year  he  memorialized  the  Massachusetts  Legisla- 
ture on  the  subject  of  teachers'  seminaries,  and  addressed 
the  American  Institute  of  Insti-uction  at  its  first  meeting 
(1839),  on  "Raising  the  Qualifications  of  Teachers."  Mr. 
Carter's  greatest  work,  however,  was  done  as  a  member  of 
the  State  Legislatxire  after  1835.  He  was  usually  on  the 
Educational  Committee,  and  for  a  time  its  chairman.  In 
1837  he  sought  to  divert  the  State's  share  of  the  sur- 
plus revenue  to  the  uses  of  education,  but  failed.  He 
draughted  the  bill  providing  for  the  State  Board  of  Edu- 
cation, and  was  the  one  man  within  the  Legislature  to 
whose  exertions  and  speeches  was  due  the  passage  of  the 
Normal  School  Act  of  1838. 

(1.)  Massachixsetts. 

Next  to  Mr.  Carter,  the  establishment  of  the  Massachu- 
setts Normal  School  was  due  to  Mr.  Edmund  Dwight,  who 
offered  ten  thousand  dollars  toward  it,  provided  the  State 
would  give  a  like  sum.  As  so  frequently  happens,  the  gen- 
eral advancement  was  due  to  the  benevolence  and  enterprise 
of  individual  interest.  The  school  was  opened  (1839)  at  Lex- 
ington (afterward  removed  to  Framingham),  with  Cyrus 
Peirce  as  principal.  Women  only  were  to  be  admitted,  and 
three  pupils  entered.  The  number  increased,  however,  and 
the  same  year,  later,  another  school  was  opened  at  Barre, 
(now  at  Westfield),  to  both  sexes.  The  year  following 
another  was  established  at  Bridgewater. 

That  there  was  not  perfect  confidence  in  normal  training, 
though,  is  apparent  from  the  action  of  the  Boston  School 
Committee.  It  was  recommended  that  a  suitable  person  be 
employed  to  visit  the  schools  of  the  city,  confer  with  the 
teachers,  and  "  to  instruct  and  qualify  a  class  preparing  to 

*  This  was  reviewed  in  the  "  North  American  Review,"  May,  1827. 


132  TUE  PERIOD  OF  REORGANIZATION. 

teach."*  The  committee  roaxie  two  objections :  1,  Such  in- 
struction would  "lead  to  repeated  experiments  of  new 
methods,  and  so  tend  to  disorganization."  2.  "  It  wovdd  les- 
sen the  respect  of  pupils  for  their  teachers,  when  it  should 
be  found  that,  like  themselves,  they  were  the  subjects  of  in- 
struction."! 

(2.)  New  York. 

Notwithstanding  the  work  done  in  teachers'  classes  by 
the  New  Yoi*k  academies,  the  feeling  was  growing  that  the 
system  lacked  uniformity  and  thoroughness  and  complete- 
ness. "They  contributed,"  says  Dr.  Potter,  "to  supply  in- 
structors for  select  rather  than  for  common  schools."  The 
work  was  academic,  and  but  incidentally  didactic.  Teach- 
ers were  needed  who,  in  addition  to  their  scholarship,  were 
famUiar  with  the  theories  and  best -known  methods  of 
teaching. 

It  was  recommended  to  the  Legislature  (1843)  that  there 
be  established  an  institution  devoted  exclusively  to  the  prepa- 
ration for  teaching.  Massachusetts  schools  were  inspected, 
Euroi>ean  systems  studied  (by  a  legislative  committee),  and 
a  school  was  ordered  as  an  experiment  for  five  years.  David 
P.  Page  became,  in  1844,  its  first  principal.  At  the  expira- 
tion of  four  years  the  school  was  made  permanent. 

The  New  Britain  (Connecticut)  school  was  established 
in  1849,  with  Hon.  Henry  Barnard  as  principal ;  the  Michi- 
gan Normal  School  1850,  opening  two  years  later,  and  one 
in  Philadelphia  18534  Altogether,  the  almost  half -century 
of  discussion,  and  the  personal  and  public  influence  of  the 
highest  scholarship  and  best  statesmanship,  resulted  in  nine 

*  Boston  had  not  a  superintendent  of  schools  for  fourteen  years  after. 

t  Wightman's  "  Annals  of  the  Primary  Schools  of  Boston,"  p.  180. 
Tliis  is  very  suggestive  on  the  growth  of  primary  education  in  New  Eng- 
land. 

X  This  was  the  reorganization  of  another,  established  1818,  to  fit  teachers 
for  the  schools  of  Philadelphia,  and  of  which  Joseph  Lancaster,  the  English 
educational  reformer,  was  first  principal. 


THE  PREPARATION  OF  TEACHERS.  133 

schools  outside  of  academies,  whose  leading  purpose  was 
the  training  of  teachers.  Six  of  these  were  public — four 
in  New  England,  and  one  each  in  New  York  and  Michi- 
gan. The  Oak  Grove  Seminaiy,  Missouri,  and  Mount  Ver- 
non College,  Ohio,  had  normal  departments ;  and  the  Evan- 
gelical Lutheran  Church  had  opened  a  normal  school  at 
Addison,  Illinois. 

D.   THE   UODERN    NORMAL    SCHOOL. 

In  organization,  contemporary  policy  makes  the  nor- 
mal'school  a  part  of  the  common-school  system.  In  some 
sections  this  has  long  been  true.  Elsewhere  the  public  is 
only  coming  to  recognize  the  common  dependence  of  the 
two.  This  does  not  so  much  imply  that  the  ratio  of  public 
to  private  schools  is  increasing,  as  that  the  first  are  increas- 
ing. It  appears  that  there  are  in  the  United  States  {1887) 
one  hundred  and  sixty-eight  institutions  adraitted  as  normal 
schools,  of  which  one  hundred  and  nineteen  are  public, 
either  of  the  State,  county,  or  city. 

These  are  found  in  thirty-two  States,  Arizona,  Dakota, 
and  the  District  of  Columbia.  Colorado,  Delaware,  Florida, 
Georgia,  Kentucky,  and  Nevada,  report  none ;  Ohio,  none 
under  State  control.  Ten  States,  including  the  six  in  New 
England,  Pennsylvania,  New  York,  North  Carolina,  and 
West  Virginia,  support  half  (fifty-six)  of  them ;  while  eleven 
States  have  but  one  each.  Of  the  whole  number,  but  thir- 
teen were  founded  in  the  first  twenty  years.  Each  one 
came  more  as  a  concession  than  a  recognized  necessity. 
Not  with  those  who  knew,  but  with  the  great  body  of 
the  people — teachers  even — the  normal  school  was  an  ex- 
periment. The  public  is  convinced  slowly.  Before  1860, 
however,  almost  one  thousand  teachers  had  graduated  and 
themselves  became  exponents  of  the  idea ;  more  had  taken 
partial  courses,  and  in  the  single  decade  from  1859-1868, 
twenty-nine  schools  were  established,  nineteen  of  them  in 
States  which  had  previously  had  none.  In  the  nearly 
twenty  years  since,  the  multiplication  has  been  rapid,  chiefly 


134:  THE  PERIOD  OF  REORGANIZATIOX. 

in  the  South  and  "West.  Of  the  twenty-six  schools  founded 
in  the  last  eight  years,  half  have  been  in  the  South,  eight  in 
North  Carolina  alone. 

Besides  the  public  normal  schools,  there  have  been  many 
private  ones,  though  information  regarding  them  is  incom- 
plete and  unsatisfactory.  That  their  academic  -work  has 
been  of  incalculable  service  in  the  absence  of  true  profes- 
sional schools,  is  the  uniform  testimony  of  educators.  They 
have  extended  the  meager  advantages  of  local  common 
schools,  have  furnished  many  excellent  teachers,  and  men 
and  women  of  studious  habits ;  but  they  have  i-arely  been 
professional. 

Not  too  great  praise  can  be  spoken  of  the  few  really  good 
schools  of  the  class  that  have  pioneered  the  work  in  the 
newer  and  in  the  Southern  States,  and  made  a  thorough, 
critical  teachers'  training  so  much  in  demand  as  to  enlist 
the  public  interest.  The  need  for  such  schools  will  probably 
not  grow  less.  They  will  at  least  long  be  required  to  sup- 
plement those  of  the  State  and  of  cities.  But  some  of  them 
which  have  not  even  the  semblance  of  the  considerate,  ac- 
curate habit,  either  of  student  or  teacher,  can  not  be  too 
vigorously  condemned.  Quality  is  far  more  important  than 
the  number  of  institutions.  It  is  not  enough  that  there  be 
normal  schools,  either  public  or  private.  It  rests  with  the 
profession  itself  to  adjust  them  to  the  highest  professional 
needs. 

Although  it  appears  that  much  has  been  already  accom- 
plished, a  comparison  of  the  number  of  teachers  required, 
with  the  total  normal  school  supply,  makes  equally  appar- 
ent the  inadequacy  of  the  present  provision.  The  table  sub- 
joined is  an  attempt  to  exhibit  the  normal  school  as  to  num- 
bers, both  of  institutions  and  pupils  (those  in  professional 
classes  only),  making  a  distinction  between  public  and  pri- 
vate foundations ;  and,  of  the  former,  between  State  schools 
and  local  (city  or  county).  It  is  admitted  Ihat  there  are 
numbers  of  private,  well-established  schools  from  which  no 
reports  are  available : 


THE  PREPARATION  OF  TEACHERS. 


136 


Normal  Schools,  Stale,  Private,  and  City,  in  the  United  States, 
1885-'86. 


STATES. 

State. 

5 
1 
2 

Pupils. 

Pri- 
vate. 

Pupils. 

City. 

Pupils. 

Total  en- 
rollment. 

525 
46 

750 

4 

198 

723 

■46 

California 

1 

76 

826 

•      1 

266 

2 

2G6 

Delaware 

Florida 

1 

8 

8 

Georgia 

Illinois        

2 

1 
1 
1 

658 
909 
432 
431 

3 
6 

2 

1 

833 

2,910 

630 

580 

1* 

2 

2 

425 
22 
20 

1,916 

3,841 

1,082 

1,011 

Kentucky 

Louisiana 

1 
4 

1 
5 
1 
3 
2 
4 
1 

75 
581 
272 
1,128 
623 
891 

'  i'.ogi ' 

248 

2 
2 

1 

200 
191 
170 

1 

1 
1 
5 

1 

100 

223 

32 

233 

375 

Maine ,         

995 

474 

Massacliusetts 

1,361 

Michigan 

628 

Minnesota 

891 

4 
1 
2 

453 

46 
80 

453 

Missouri 

1 

138 

1,275 

328 

Nebraska 

Nevada 

New  Hampshire 

New  Jersey 

1 
2 
9 
4 

50 

128 

2,693 

559 

1 

1 
5 

'"3" 

1 
1 

12 

60 

1,684 

"289' 

l',2i8" 

62 

1 

270 

458 

New  York 

4,377 
562 
674 

North  Carolina 

Ohio 

1 
3 

3 
385 

Oregon 

2 

11 

1 

100 

3,537 

153 

100 

Pennsylvania 

Rhode  Island 

2 

373 

5,128 
153 

South  Carolina 

3 
4 
2 

276 

250 

41 

1 

105 

381 

Tennessee 

1 
2 
3 
3 
6 
5 

I 

154 
215 
191 
493 
702 
1,185 
50 
241 

404 

Texas 

256 

191 

Virginia 

1 

350 

843 

West  Virginia 

Wisconsin 

702 

2 

118 

1,803 

50 

Dakota 

241 

2 

50 

50 

Total 

81 

19,382 

49 

8,065 

32 

4,987 

32,384 

Cook  County  Normal  School. 


13G  THE  PERIOD  OF  REORGANIZATION. 


1.  Professional  vs.  Academic  Studies. 

But,  far  more  than  organization,  the  curriculum  of  a 
training-school  is  important.  Current  tendencies  seem  to 
show  that  it  is  becoming  more  professional,  if  not  less 
academic,  emphasizing  the  model  and  practice  schools,  and 
directing  original  studies  in  mind  and  philosophy. 

The  earliest  institutions  seem  not  to  have  differed  mate- 
rially in  function  from  the  academies,  and  more  special 
academic  courses,  of  which  they  were  the  outgrowth. 

The  time  devoted  to  the  study  of  school  economy,  meth- 
ods of  instruction,  and  the  history  of  educational  theories  in 
the  Canandaigua  Academy  (1832)  was  scarcely  exceeded  by 
that  in  any  established  normal  school  for  twenty  years. 

The  MLllersville  (Pennsylvania)  Normal  School  (1859)  of- 
fered three  courses — elementary,  scientific,  and  classical ;  the 
first  only  of  which  was  meant  to  be  professional.  In  this  the 
academic  work  was  supplemented  by  two  courses  of  "  Lect- 
ures on  Teaching,"  and  practice  in  an  elementary  school  at- 
tached, for  six  months. 

As  late  as  1865  the  curriculum  of  the  Massachusetts 
schools  comprised  essentially  *  a  shorter  course  of  one  year, 
covering  only  such  studies  as  were  taught  in  the  common 
schools ;  and  a  course  of  two  years,  adding  to  the  elementary 
branches  general  history,  mental  philosophy,  music,  the 
Constitution  and  history  of  the  United  States  and  of  Massa- 
chusetts, natural  philosophy  and  astronomy,  natural  history, 
the  principles  of  piety  and  morality  common  to  all  sects  of 
Christians,  and  the  science  and  art  of  teaching  with  refer- 
ence to  all  of  the  above-named  studies.  In  the  Westfield 
(Massachusetts)  institution  (1862),  of  twenty  subjects  required 
in  a  two  years'  course,  the  school  laws  of  the  State,  and  the 
theory  and  the  art  of  teaching,  with  one  term  on  mental  phi- 
losophy given  to  seniors,  constituted  the  professional  matter. 

*  For  the  full  course  sec,  "  American  Journal  of  Education,"  vol.  xviii, 
p.  657. 


THE  PREPARATION  OF  TEACHERS.       137 

This  academic  work  was  necessary,  perhaps,  in  all  the 
first  schools.  Right  methods  were  given  in  the  process 
of  correct  teaching,  suhject-matter  heing  held  central.  An 
advance  was  made  when  these  studies  came  to  be  taught  as 
a  means  to  illustrate  modes  of  instruction,  or  the  process  of 
learning.  The  course  of  study  of  the  Winona  (Minnesota) 
Normal  School,  adopted  soon  after  its  opening  (1860),  is  typical 
of  this  enlargement  of  the  special  exercises.  The  scholastic 
work  included  English,  mathematics,  physical  and  natural 
science,  graphics,  and  political  economy;  the  professional 
outline  specified  intellectual  and  moral  philosophy,  the 
principles  of  education,  the  history  of  education,*  didactic 
exercises,  observation  in  the  model  school,  preparation  of 
sketches,  criticism,  lessons  in  teaching,  teaching  in  the  prac- 
tice-school, and  the  school  laws  of  Minnesota. 

In  the  Kansas  State  Normal  School,  opened  some  years 
later,  but  in  the  same  decade,  six  terms  (twenty  weeks  each) 
were  given  to  the  science,  method  and  history  of  education. 

A  forward  and  helpful  impulse  was  given  by  the  Oswego 
Training-School  (1861)  also,  that  is  yet  apparent  throughout 
most  of  the  States,  not  only  in  the  cities,  but  in  rural  districts 
as  well.  From  1853  the  city  schools  had  maintained  Saturday 
classes  for  their  own  teachers.  The  need  of  something  more 
permanent  and  systematic  being  felt,  Miss  M.  E.  M.  Jones,  of 
London,  England,  was  employed  to  arrange  and  give  direc- 
tion to  a  course  of  training  for  primary  teachers.  Miss  Jones 
remained  a  year  and  a  half,  and  shares  with  Superintendent 
Sheldon  the  credit  of  having  first  systematically  established 
the  principle  of  object-teaching  in  this  country.  The  origi- 
nal course  of  one  year  has  been  extended  to  four,  with 
shorter  courses  for  special  classes,  and  the  school  has  been 
adopted  by  the  State. 

In  Michig-an  great  latitude  is  offered  in  the  selection  from 
five  regular  and  five  special  courses,  each  covering  four 

*  One  of  the  earliest  appearances  of  a  subject  of  fundamental  importance 

to  the  teacher. 


138 


THE  PERIOD  OF  REORGANIZATION. 


years  (except  the  English  course,  which  is  three  years),  and 
each  including,  during  the  last  two  years,  a  large  introduc- 
tion of  sijecial  exercises,  both  theoretical  and  practical. 
Indiana  offers  six  courses,  as  follows  : 

1.  Regular  English  course 3   years. 

2.  English  and  Latin  course 8i  years. 

S,  Coarse  for  graduates  of  high-schools 2   years. 

4.  Course  for  graduates  of  high-schools 1   year. 

5.  Course  for  college  graduates 1    year. 

6.  Post-graduate  course 1   year. 

The  following  table  of  the  regular  English  course  is 
given  as  showing  fairly  the  proportion  of  professional  and 
academic  work  in  the  better  public  normal  schools  : 


Terms. 

Subjects  of  Instmction. 

I... 

Theory. 

Penmanship 
and  Reading. 

Arithmetic. 

Grammar. 

Methods  in 

Reading. 

Arithmetic. 

Grammar. 

II... 

Reading  and 
Numbers. 

III... 

Mental  Science. 

Geography. 

Physiology. 

United  States 

HistoiT. 
United  States 

IV... 

Mental  Science. 

Geography. 

Composition. 

IIistor\'. 

V... 

Methods  in 
Grammar, 
Geography, 
and  Compoi- 
sition. 

Music. 

Chemistry. 

General  His- 
tory. 

VI... 

Practice. 

Drawing. 

Physics. 

General  History 
and  Rhetoric 

vn... 

Practice. 

Physics. 

Algebra. 

Literature. 

VIII... 

History  of  Edu- 
cation. 

Astronomy  or 
Geology. 

Algebra. 

Composition. 

IX... 

Science  of 
Teaching. 

Botany. 

Geometry. 

Theses. 

(2.)  Model  and  Practice  Schools. 

A  further  mark  of  the  professional  character  of  the 
schools  is  foruid  in  the  general  recognition  of  model  and 
practice  schools  as  factors  in  then*  organizations.  These 
are  not  peculiarly  modem,  although  the  use  made  of  them  is. 


THE  PREPARATION  OF  TEACHERS.       139 

The  first  Massachtisetts  schools  early  provided  practice 
classes  ;  the  Albany  and  Millersville  institutions,  at  their 
organization  ;  while  the  Oswego  school  was  itself  the  out- 
growth of  a  model  or  training  class. 

The  number  of  these  departments,  and  the  amount  of 
practice-work,  seem  to  have  constantly  increased.  Of  one 
hundred  and  three  schools,  1872,  fifty-seven  reported  model 
departments  ;  in  fifteen  years  the  latter  had  increased  to 
eighty- three,  out  of  a  total  of  one  hundred  and  seventeen 
schools,  or  at  twice  the  rate.  In  the  fii^t  experiments,  the 
courses  being  short  and  chiefly  academical,  the  practice- work 
was  taken  along  with  the  other.  In  contemporary  schools 
thei-e  is  an  obvious  tendency  to  condition  the  observation 
and  practice  upon  a  thorough  grounding  in  the  study  of 
mind,  and  the  general  principles  of  instruction  and  learning. 

In  a  few  institutions,  notably  the  State  Normal  School 
at  Worcester,  Massachusetts,  a  system  of  apprenticeship  is 
practiced  which  serves  a  like  purpose.  For  half  a  year  the 
student  is  allowed  to  teach  in  some  selected  public  school  as 
an  assistant. 

The  system  is  designed  to  give  the  student  practical 
acquaintance  with  the  work  of  teaching,  and  at  the  same 
time  furnish  the  faculty  a  standard  by  which  to  judge  of  her 
teaching  ability. 

(3.)  Child-Study. 

One  characteristic  of  very  grave  importance,  though  lessi 
conspicuous  than  others,  is  the  prominence  given  in  a  few 
schools  to  psychological  principles,  and  in  fewer  yet  to  the 
systematic  observation  and  patient,  scientific  study  of  child- 
mind.  It  has  been  recently  well  said  :  *  "  The  study  of  psy-  , 
chology  lies  at  the  foundation  of  any  substantial  building  for 
high  excellence  in  the  profession  of  teaching.  It  is  this 
body  of  principles  more  than  all  else,  which  makes  teaching 
a  profession  and  not  a  mere  trade.     All  the  reasons  that 

*  G.  S.  Albee,  "  Proceedings  of  tLe  National  Educational  Association," 
1887,  p.  500. 


140  THE  PERIOD  OF  REORGANIZATION". 

force  upon  physicians  the  study  of  physiology  may  enforce 
the  study  of  psychology  upon  professional  teachers." 

For  many  years,  however,  in  normal  schools,  lessons 
on  mind  were  given  in  no  other  way  than  might  have 
been  found  in  any  college  and  in  many  secondary  schools, 
and  to  little  better  purpose  for  the  teacher.  But,  as  the 
study  of  plants  at  first  hand  is  better  than  conning  names, 
and  the  inspiration  from  work  in  a  laboratory  of  matter 
is  fresher  than  of  books,  so  does  the  teacher's  eflBcient 
study  of  mind  differ  from  the  reflection  upon  theories  and 
controversial  psychology.  And  the  ocasional  recent  texts 
upon  educational  psychology,  and  the  culture  of  mind, 
point  to  better  things.  A  dozen  normal  schools  through- 
out the  country  are  doing  somewhat  original  work  in  this 
respect,  as  their  courses  show  ;  and  the  Worcester  (Mas- 
sachusetts) school  has  been,  for  some  years,  quietly  pur- 
suing an  investigation  into  child  experience,  both  unique 
and  suggestive.  It  was  begun  in  1884,  by  a  single  section 
of  the  school ;  at  present  all  the  classes  take  part  in  it. 
About  seven  thousand  records  have  been  preserved,  each 
representing  a  particular  observation,  the  whole  classified 
under  twenty  heads. 

(4.)  Specialization  in  Training. 

The  impulse  toward  sj^ecialization  belongs  to  the  training 
of  teachers  not  less  than  to  other  industries  and  professions. 
First,  the  conditions  in  cities  considerably  modify  the  prep- 
aration given  in  their  training-schools.  The  course  is  gen- 
erally shorter,  is  more  purely  professional,  involves  rela- 
tively more  practice-work,  and  frequently  fits  for  particular 
grades. 

The  inauguration  of  city  trainijig  did  much  to  system- 
atize and  adjust  the  instruction,  to  rationalize  the  courses. 
Their  influence  upon  State  and  other  institutions  has 
been  a  wholesome  one.  The  Normal  School  in  Boston, 
established  in  1852,  and  that  of  St.  Louis  (1857),  are  among 
the  oldest  in  cities,  and  examples  of  an  efl&cient  direction. 


THE  PREPARATION  OF  TEACHERS.       141 

Davenport,  Iowa,  early  followed  (1863),  San  Francisco  (1865), 
New  Haven  (1866),  and  Fort  Wayne  and  Indianapolis  the 
same  year,  the  last  two  directed  by  graduates  of  the  Oswego 
Training-School,  There  are  now  twenty-five  such  institu- 
tions in  the  United  States,  established  in  most  of  the  large 
cities,  and  in  a  few  of  the  second  class.  Besides  these  there 
are  forty-one  Kindergarten  training-schools,  normal,  art, 
and  music  schools,  and,  in  New  York  city,  a  system  of 
special  training  of  teachers  for  instruction  in  science,  in 
charge  of  the  director  of  the  Central  Park  Museum,  and  an 
Industrial  Training-School  recently  opened. 

Bibliography. 

"  History  of  Normal  Schools  in  New  England,"  Rev.  Charles  Brooks ; 
"  Normal  Schools,  their  Necessity  and  Growth,"  Thomas  Hunter,  "  Edu- 
cation," vol.  V,  p.  235 ;  "  Normal  School  Work  and  the  State,"  S.  N. 
Fellows,  "Education,"  vol.  i,  p.  180;  the  "Nature  and  Limits  of  the 
Nonnal  School,"  F.  Louis  Soluan,  "St.  Louis  School  Report,"  1875; 
"  The  True  Function  of  the  Normal  School,"  General  T.  J.  Morgan,  1886 ; 
"Teaching  as  a  Profession,  Inadequacy  of  the  Present  Normal  School," 
Dr.  E.  H.  Magill,  "  The  American,"  March  5,  1887;  "Methods  in  the 
Normal  Schools  of  the  United  States,"  Thomas  J.  Gray,  "Proceedings  of 
the  National  Educational  Association,"  Chicago,  188*7,  p.  472. 

Concerning  the  natui-e  and  method  of  child-study,  consult  the  "  Con- 
tents of  Children's  Minds,"  by  Dr.  G.  Stanley  Hall,  "  Princeton  Review," 
May,  1882;  "Biographical  Sketch  of  an  Infant,"  by  Charles  Darwin, 
"Mind,"  vol.  ii  (1877),  p.  285;  "  About  the  Minds  of  Little  Children," 
M.  A.  Powers,  "  Education,"  vol.  vi,  p.  26  ;  "  Observations  on  Infants," 
by  E.  S.  Holden,  "  Transactions  of  the  American  Philosophical  Society," 
1875  ;  the  "  Growth  of  Children,"  by  H.  P.  Bowditch ;  and  "  The  Mind 
of  the  Child,"  by  W.  Preyer,  2  vols.,  D.  Appleton  &  Co. 


10 


142  THE  PERIOD  OF  REORGANIZATION. 

CHAPTER  IX. 

THE  PREPARATION  OF  TEACHERS.-iContinued.) 

A  SYSTEM  of  education  comprising  elementary,  secondary, 
and  collegiate  schools,  viewed  pedagogically,  is  incomplete,  if 
it  fail  to  provide  competent  instructors  and  supervisors  for 
any  of  them.  If  this  be  true,  how  imi)erfect  is  the  best  State 
system  we  yet  havel  In  the  large  cities  the  management 
usually  provides  teachers  for  the  graded  schools.  For  the 
rest,  normal  schools  supply,  perhaps,  from  one  fourth  to  one 
third  of  the  places.  But  with  the  most  generous  allowance, 
many  thousands  of  positions,  in  the  elementary  schools  even, 
in  cities  of  the  second  class  and  smaller,  and  in  rural  dis- 
tricts, must  be  filled  from  chance  selection,  or  from  non-pro- 
fessional sources. 

1.  Pedagogical  Training  in  Colleges. 

The  danger  from  the  blunders  of  inexperience,  or  want  of 
knowledge,  or  both  sometimes,  might  be  provided  against 
by  the  employment  of  disciplined  principals  and  masters, 
wise  supervision,  and  a  leadership  schooled  in  the  problems 
of  education  and  the  machinery  of  its  institutions.  But, 
while  some  little  provision  has  been  made  to  fit  teachers  for 
the  elementary  schools,  almost  nothing  had  been  done,  until 
recently,  to  prepare  for  instruction  in  secondary  and  colle- 
giate institutions.  The  high-school  could  not  do  it,  nor  with 
fairness  could  most  normal  schools  attempt  it.  This  ap- 
pears in  the  fact  that  the  average  curriculum  of  one  hundred 
and  fifteen  public  normal  schools  is  a  fraction  over  two 
years  in  length,  and  the  conditions  for  entrance  such  as 
would  admit  to  the  better  high-schools.  This  need  for  a 
broader  scholarship  for  secondary  teachers  has  been  met 
generally  by  the  colleges.  But  discipline  of  mind  and 
wealth  of  information  are  but  two  of  the  three  factors  con- 


THE   PREPARATION   OF  TEACHERS.  I43 

cerned  in  the  right  training  of  the  teacher.  The  only  one 
which  makes  the  teacher  to  be  a  teacher,  and  not  a  lawyer 
or  a  journalist,  has  been  omitted. 

How  to  combine  this  needful  academic  study  with  the 
professional  training  is  a  question  of  grave  importance. 
That  in  the  present  social  conditions  it  belongs,- in  part,  to 
the  college,  is  already  widely  recognized.  In  sixty-eight 
colleges  (degree-giving  institutions),  in  thirty  States  and 
Territories,  more  or  less  instruction  is  given  in  the  theory  of 
education.  These  have  about  two  thoiisand  students  pursu- 
ing such  courses,  varying  from  one  to  four  years  in  length. 

A.    REVIEW   COURSES. 

Among  the  earliest  provisions  of  these  schools  was  the 
introduction  of  "review  courses,"  whose  only  aim  was  to 
combine,  with  more  or  less  college  study,  a  systematic  and 
somewhat  critical  survey  of  the  elementary  branches.  In 
the  absence  of  other  means,  this  has  advantages,  and  is  not 
to  be  wholly  condemned. 

B.    COURSES    IN   DIDACTICS. 

The  presentation,  by  lectures,  or  an  occasional  text,  of  the 
principles  of  school  management,  questions  of  school-room 
economy,  and  the  few  best  known  theories  of  education, 
was  a  considerable  step  forward  in  the  college  training  of 
teachers.  The  young  man  of  average  graduate  training 
and  maturity,  who  has  learned  to  look  at  social  questions 
from  his  business  point  of  view,  and  make  them  an  object  of 
patient  study,  has  made  no  small  beginning.  It  is  little 
enough ;  but  it  is  the  recognition  of  a  teaching  class,  with  a 
special  function,  and  is  significant. 

C.    THE    UNITEUSITY   NORMAL   SCHOOL. 

Of  a  different  sort,  more  systematic  and  comprehensive, 
is  the  normal  school,  equipped  and  complete  within  itself, 
but  co-ordinated  with  other  "schools"  in  the  university. 
These  differ  in  no  essential  from  the  independent  normal 


144       THE  PERIOD  OF  REORGANIZATION. 

school.  They  usually  teach  the  same  subjects,  have  the 
same  length  of  course,  and  employ  (occasionally)  both 
model  and  practice  schools.  Further  than  this,  their  con- 
nection with  the  college  seciu'es  them  students  better  in- 
structed, makes  available  the  advantages  of  libraries,  and 
lectures,  and  the  specialist's  discussion  of  related  questions. 
These  are  so  much  clear  gain  to  the  normal  school,  and  must 
favorably  react,  not  only  upon  the  instruction,  but  upon  the 
general  public  estimate  of  education. 

As  types  of  the  imiversity  normal  school  may  be  named 
(not  excluding  others)  those  connected  with  the  Central 
Tennessee  College  at  Nashville ;  the  University  of  Missouri, 
and  Drury  College,  Missouri;  Hillsdale  College,  Michigan; 
De  Pau w  University,  Indiana ;  and  the  university  of  Colo- 
rado. Connected  with  the  "University  of  the  Pacific"  at 
San  Jose,  California^  is  a  "School  of  Psychology  and  the 
Science  and  Art  of  Education,"  with  a  faculty  of  three,  and 
nine  courses,  entirely  professional,  including  one  on  "  Human 
Development  and  the  Psychology  of  Childhood,"  and  an- 
other on  the  "  Science  and  Art  of  the  Froebel  Kindergarten." 

D.    PROKESSORSHIP   OF    PEDAGOGICS. 

Somewhat  diflPerent,  in  respect  to  both  organization  and 
aim,  is  the  university  professorship  of  Pedagogics. 

"  The  distinctive  function  of  the  university,"  says  Rev. 
R.  H.  Quick,  "  is  not  action,  but  thought.  And  the  best 
thing  the  university  can  do  for  schoolmasters  is  to  employ 
some  of  their  keenest  intellects  in  considering  education  on 
the  side  of  theory,  and  in  teaching  such  principles  respect- 
ing it  as  have  been  or  can  be  established." 

Both  the  normal  school  and  the  professorship  have  like 
educational  bearings.  The  former,  however,  is  special ;  the 
latter  general.  The  one  seeks  to  influence  elementary 
training  directly  through  its  teachers ;  the  other  mediately, 
through  the  more  advanced.  Each  is  needed,  as  appears 
from  the  history  of  both.  The  European  experience  is  long- 
er than  the  American,  and  altogether  reassuring.    Not  only 


THE  PREPARATION  OF  TEACHERS.       I45 

in  Germany,  but  in  other  Continental  and  the  insular  states, 
especially  England  and  Scotland,  university  training  in  ed- 
ucation has  commanded  the  ripest  learning.* 

In  the  United  States  its  introduction  is  comparatively 
recent;  its  development  slow,  but  on  the  whole  forward  and 
continuous.  It  could  not  but  be  that  the  universities,  sup- 
plying the  principals  and  assistants  in  secondary  schools, 
supervisors  and  directors,  local  and  State  commissioners 
should  ultimately  find  a  demand  for  a  preparation  for  such 
positions. 

As  early  as  1850,  Prof.  S.  S.  Green,  then  superintendent 
of  the  Providence  schools,  was  made  Professor  of  Didactics 
in  Brown  University,  Rhode  Island.  He  held  the  position 
five  years. 

Ten  years  later  (1860)  Dr.  Gregory  (State  Superintendent 
of  Michigan)  gave  a  course  of  lectures  to  the  seniors  in  the 
university  on  the  "  Philosophy  of  Education,  School  Econ- 
omy, and  the  Teaching  Art."  It  was  afterward  given  in 
Kalamazoo  College,  Michigan,  and  in  the  Illinois  Industrial 
University  (1867). 

The  first  permanent  chair  of  the  kind  in  this  county,  so 
far  as  known,  though  shared  with  the  professorship  of  Gen- 
eral Philosophy,  was  that  established  in  Iowa  University 
(1873).  t  A  department  was  organized  in  the  University  of 
Wisconsin  (1881),  followed  three  years  later  by  somewhat 
similar  ones  in  the  University  of  North  Carolina,  and  Johns 
Hopkins  University,  Baltimore.  Since  then,  four  others 
have  opened :  in  Ottawa  University,  Kansas  (1885) ;  Indiana 
University,  and  Cornell,  New  York  (1886) ;  and  the  Univer- 
sity of  the  City  of  New  York  (1887). 

*  The  New  York  Regents'  Report  for  1883  page  342,  contains  a  very 
fair  statement  of  the  "English  and  Scottish  University  Work  in  Peda- 
gogy," and  some  liberal  suggestions  as  to  its  introduction  into  the  colleges 
of  the  United  States. 

+  In  the  March  issue  of  "  Education,"  1881,  Dr.  Fellows  has  an  excel- 
lent statement  of  the  work  offered  for  many  years,  in  his  course  in  didactics. 
Bee  p.  393. 


146       THE  PERIOD  OF  REORGANIZATION. 

In  line  with  the  purpose  of  these  departments,  though 
having  no  immediate  dependence  upon  any  institution, 
were  "  Pedagogical  Lecture  Courses "  given  for  three  years 
in  Boston.  At  the  suggestion  of  a  Boston  master,  and  official 
of  Harvard,  Dr.  Hall  (1881),  then  a  member  of  the  university 
faculty,  was  invited  to  deliver  to  a  body  of  Boston  teachers  a 
course  of  lectures  on  professional  subjects.  These  were  the 
so-called  "  Harvard  Lectures  an  Pedagogy,"  and  were  main- 
tained thoughout  the  winter,  and  also  for  the  winter  of 
1883-'84.  A  course  was  given  by  Dr.  Harris  in  Boston  Uni- 
versity in  1881,  and  a  second  in  1883-'83  in  Wesleyan  Hall, 
in  the  same  city.  The  lectures  were  well  attended,  and  the 
experiment  as  a  whole  serves  admirably  to  illustrate  the  readi- 
ness with  which  the  best  thought  everywhere  finds  listeners. 

Perhaps  Michigan  University  first  demonstrated  what 
could  be  done  in  a  strictly  professional  way,  on  a  high 
plane,  to  fit  young  men  and  women  for  the  best  jwsitions 
in  the  school  system,  where  scholarship  and  discipline  and 
a  comprehensive  knowledge  of  the  means  and  ends  of  edu- 
cation are  needed.  The  department*  (1879)  is  that  of  the 
"  Science  and  Art  of  Teaching,"  and  from  two  series  of  lect- 
ui*es  has  been  enlarged  to  include  seven  courses,  covering  the 
practical,  theoretical,  and  historical  phases  of  the  subject. 
The  work  is  entirely  elective,  falls  largely  into  the  later 
terms  of  the  course,  and  has  been  taken,  in  the  last  half- 
dozen  years,  in  whole  or  in  part,  by  forty  per  cent  of  the 
graduates,  besides  partial  courses  by  undergraduates. 

Lectures  on  pedagogics  were  first  given  in  Johns  Hop- 
kins University  during  the  coUegate  year  1884-'85.  Dr. 
G.  Stanley  Hall  had  been  recently  elected  to  the  chair  of 
Greneral  Philosophy,  and  with  this  the  instruction  in  peda- 
gogics was  incorporated.  The  course  covers  three  years : 
the  first  being  historical ;  the  second  devoted  to  problems 

*  The  work  and  growth  of  this  department  are  set  forth  in  detiul,  in 
Prof.  Payne's  "  Contributions  to  the  Science  of  Education,"  p.  335.  See 
also  chap,  xv,  p.  257,  "  Education  as  a  University  Study." 


THE  PREPARATION  OF  TEACHERS.       147 

of  elementary  and  secondary  education  ;  and  the  third  to 
higlier  and  special  education.  The  pedagogical  work  of  Dr. 
Hall  has,  throughout  the  course,  been  given  with  reference 
to  its  philosophical  bearings,  and  has  been  discussed  in  a 
comprehensive  way,  and  in  the  light  of  universal  princi- 
ples. His  resignation  *  leaves  vacant  a  position  not  easily 
filled. 

The  course  projected  for  the  department  in  the  University 
of  the  City  of  New  York  is  somewhat  more  extended. 
Begun  in  the  year  1887,  with  three  lectures  a  week  on 
the  history  of  education,  it  now  includes:  1.  Psychology; 
2.  The  psychological  basis  of  education  ;  3.  Methodology ; 
4.  Economy  as  applied  to  education ;  5.  Bibliography  with 
criticisms  ;  and,  6.  Sociology  in  so  far  as  it  has  reference  to 
education. 

It  need  scarcely  be  said  that  the  work  as  a  whole,  and  in 
this  country,  is  yet  only  tentative.  A  few  of  the  courses  are 
painfully  narrow  and  bai*ren  ;  others  are  subordinated — 
made  to  share  both  time  and  attention  with  unrelated  sub- 
jects. Nevertheless,  the  movement  is  assuring  and  is,  almost 
without  exception,  favorably  regarded  by  educators. 

"  The  great  need  of  the  hour,"  it  has  been  said,t  "  is  to 
ascertain  what  has  been  done  in  the  line  of  educational 
effort,  what  plans  have  succeeded,  and  what  have  failed,  and 
the  conditions  under  which  success  or  failure  has  come." 
This  is  one  of  the  most  stimulating  services  of  the  contem- 
porary college — the  large  contributions  it  has  made  to  the 
intelligent  and  systematic  and  comparative  study  of  history ; 
and  now,  especially,  the  history  of  education  and  its  institu- 
tions. This  involves  not  only  the  education  of  the  states, 
ancient  and  modern,  but  the  accompanying  social  and 
political  forms,  custom  and  creed,  antecedents  and  eviron- 
ment,  and  the  physical  and  other  conditions  which  deter- 

*  Dr.  Hall  has  just  recently  accepted  the  presidency  of  the  new  Clarke 
University  at  Worcester,  Massachusetts. 

t  Prof.  Payne,  "  Contributions  to  the  Science  of  Education,"  p.  26& 


148  THE  PERIOD  OF  REORGANIZATION. 

mine  the  institutional  life.  It  is  a  work,  viewed  from  the 
pedagogical  side,  peculiarly  within  the  province  of  the  uni- 
versity. 

Again,  as  the  principles  of  instruction  are  to  be  sought 
in  the  nature  and  functions  of  mind,  and  the  general  spirit- 
ual life,  the  conditions  of  education,  in  its  deeper  content, 
presuppose  the  broader  co-ordinations  of  knowledge  included 
under  anthropology,  ethics,  and  the  indefinitely  complex 
sociology,  in  the  study  of  institutional  life.  Philosophy  of 
education  is,  then,  a  phase  of  general  philosophy,  rests  upon 
its  constituent  knowledges,  borrows  its  deductions  and  is  con- 
ditioned by  them.  Theories  of  mind,  and  the  individual 
responsibility;  prevalent  estimates  of  the  social  life  and  the 
functions  of  the  State ;  the  changed  interpretations  of  natural 
phenomena  and  forces,  all  conti-ibute  to  the  shaping  of  edu- 
cational doctrine  and  its  ultimate  creed.  The  enlargement 
of  university  pedagogy  on  the  side  indicated  is  one  of  the 
hopeful  signs  of  the  day.  Never  was  it  more  needed  than 
now.  And  if  the  present  movement  shall  result  in  calling 
to  the  universities  throughout  the  country  its  best  men  to 
study  these  questions  in  their  universal  relations,  study  edu- 
cation as  philosophy,  and  mark  its  bearings,  it  will  have 
done  the  generation  an  eminent  service. 

2.  Educational  Literature. 

One  of  the  conditions  of  professional  eflBciency,  at  the 
present  day,  is  familiarity  with  the  contributing  literature. 
It  marks  economy  in  service,  and  is  the  starting-point  for 
any  sound  original  study  of  current  conditions.  This  is 
neither  less  nor  more  true  of  teaching  than  of  law,  medicine, 
or  theology.  Paraphrasing  the  famous  dictum  of  Matthew 
Arnold,  it  may  be  said  the  right  acquaintance  with  the  best 
that  has  been  thought  and  said  touching  one's  profession  is 
a  liberal  professional  education. 

Incomplete  and  unsatisfactory  as  this  literature  is  in  the 
United  States,  most  departments  of  modem  inquiry  have 
made  some  contributions. 


THE  PREPARATION  OF  TEACHERS.       149 


A.    WORKS   ON   PEDAGOGY. 

Historically,  educational  literature  in  the  United  States 
belongs  almost  wholly  to  the  period  of  reorganization. 
Christopher  Dock,*  in  Pennsylvania,  had  published  his 
"  Schul-ordnung,"  Joseph  Neef  t  his  "  Plan  of  Education," 
and  "  Methods  of  Teaching,"  and  Rafinesque,  J  the  eccentric 
naturalist,  a  pamphlet  on  the  "  Improvement  of  Universities, 
Colleges,  and  other  Seats  of  Learning  in  North  America," 

Besides  these,  and  the  movements  which  they  repre- 
sented, it  has  been  said  of  this  period  (the  first  fifty  years 
of  our  national  history),  that  there  were  only  two  men 
whose  efforts  to  promote  general,  and  especially  higher  edu- 
cation, are  worthy  of  note — Jefferson  and  Washington.* 
Within  two  decades  from  the  accomplishment  of  Jefferson's 
plan  in  the  founding  of  the  University  of  Virginia,  came  the 
"educational  revival"  that  touched  all  the  States,  and  in 
which  began,  along  with  school  systems,  supervision,  normal 
schools,  etc.,  a  school  literature,  descriptive  and  critical,  if 
not  constructive,  and  of  very  general  influence.  Some  of  it, 
though  used  with  a  local  purpose,  has  yet  a  permanent  value. 
Such  were  the  writmgs  of  Mann  and  Stowe ;  Abbott,  Page, 
and  Hall.  President  Wayland's  study  of  the  "Collegiate 
System  of  the  United  States,"  is  well  worth  a  careful  reading 
by  contemporary  teachers,  and,  among  expositions  of  foreign 
school  systems.  Prof.  Bache's  "  Report  on  Education  in  Eu- 
rope," which  has  been  pronounced  "  one  of  the  most  influen- 
tial educational  works  ever  published  in  this  country." 

*  For  a  biography  of  Mr.  Dock,  and  a  summary  of  his  book,  see  Penny- 
packer's  "  Historical  Sketches,"  p.  95.  A  copy  of  the  first  edition  of  the 
"Schul-ordnung"  may  be  found  in  the  Library  of  the  Historical  Society 
of  Pennsylvania. 

t  Mr.  Neef  was  connected  with  the  "  Community  School,"  at  New  Har- 
mony, Indiana,  then  and  now  one  of  the  most  cultured,  progressive  neigh- 
borhoods in  the  West. 

t  See  "  Science  Sketches,"  by  Dr.  Jordan,  p.  143. 

*  "  Washington  and  Higher  Education,  a  Monograph,"  by  C.  K.  Adams. 


150  THE  PERIOD  OF  REORGANIZATION. 

To  these  and  other  more  recent  works  reference  will  be 
found  in  the  bibliographies  upon  the  several  topics.  Espe- 
cial attention,  however,  should  be  called  to  the  few  works  on 
infant  and  child  education,  on  graded  and  rural  schools,  on 
city  school  systems,  and  occasional  books  on  methods  that 
are  especially  valuable.  There  are  a  half-dozen  State  histo- 
ries of  education  that  are  of  value  outside  their  localities ;  as 
those  of  Rhode  Island,  New  York,  California,  Pennsylvania, 
and  Michigan.  Histories,  longer  or  shorter,  of  colleges,  are 
quite  numerous ;  but  of  city  schools  very  few.  Some  valua- 
ble special  studies  have  appeared  in  the  last  years  on  normal 
schools,  something  of  the  science  of  education,  industrial 
and  reformatory  training,  and  the  general  relations  of  edu- 
cation. 

One  of  the  most  fruitful  sources  of  educational  literature 
has  been  the  translation  and  republication  of  foreign  works. 
By  this  means  have  been  made  available  to  the  English 
(American)  reader,  Froebel  and  Pestalozzi,  Rousseau,  Rosen- 
kranz,  Compayre,  Radestock,  Preyer,  Perez,  and  othei-s;  as 
well  as  Quick,  Bi*OAvning,  Payne,  Sully,  Fitch,  Tait,  Laurie, 
and  Spencer;  to  master  whose  pedagogical  writings  would 
be  a  liberal  training  for  any  teacher. 

Ten  years  ago  was  published  the  "  Cyclopaedia  of  Educa- 
tion." One  or  two  supplementary  volumes  have  been  added 
since ;  and,  while  it  is  exceedingly  defective  and  incomplete 
in  parts,  it  is  nevertheless,  to  the  reading  and  thinking 
teacher,  an  invaluable  source  of  much-needed  information. 
But  the  one  comprehensive  reference  on  educational  mat- 
ters— a  library  in  itself — thoroughly  American,  though  all- 
sided  in  its  fullness,  is  BarnaM's  "  American  Journal  of  Edu- 
cation." 

Among  reference  works  for  teachers,  also,  should  be 
named  two  bibliographical  texts  recently  published.  The 
one,  "Bibliography  of  Education,"*  by  Dr.  Hall,  and  the 

*  Including  twenty-one  hundred  and  sixty-five  entries.  These  are  put 
under  sixty  headings.    The  Mac  Alister  "  Catalogue  of  the  Philadelphia 


THE  PREPARATION  OF  TEACHERS.       151 

other  a  "  Catalogue  of  the  Pedagogical  Libraiy  of  the  Phila- 
delphia Public  Schools,"  by  Superintendent  Mac  Alister,  are 
timely  and  suggestive.  Both  include  bibliographical  and 
critical  notes  which,  for  busy,  ambitious  teacliers  are  not  the 
least  valuable  part. 

B.    PERIODICALS. 

When  the  complete  history  of  general  education  in  the 
United  States  comes  to  be  written,  it  will  be  found  that  the 
rise,  growth,  and  influence  of  educational  periodical  litera- 
ture fill  a  long  chapter.  School  journals  *  early  began  in 
this  country  the  campaign  against  ignorance  and  unrea- 
soning conservatism.  The  inferiority  of  some  in  no  wise 
detracts  from  the  incalculable  services  of  the  few  timely 
and  well-managed  ones,  adaptable,  working  with  a  purpose 
— and  that  the  enlargement  of  public  views  on  education. 

The  &cst  published  journal  in  the  United  States  (and  Mr. 
Barnard  is  authority  for  the  statement  that  it  was  the  "  first 
in  the  English  language "  devoted  to  the  advancement  of 
education)  was  that  of  Wait,  Green  &  Co.,  Boston,  1823.  Its 
editors  were  W"illiam  C.  Woodbridge,  William  A.  Alcott, 
and  William  Eussell,  with  such  men  for  correspondents  as 
Prof.  Emerson,  Horace  Mann,  Joseph  Story,  Caleb  Cushing, 
Erancis  Wayland,  and  Bronson  Alcott. 

The  "  Massachusetts  Common-School  Journal "  (1837)  and 
a  similar  paper  in  Connecticut  (1838)  were  started,  the  one 
by  Horace  Mann,  the  other  by  Henry  Barnard,  when  State 
School  Commissioner  of  their  respective  States.  They  were 
used  as  organs  of  the  administration,  disseminating  school 
and  legislative  and  ofiicial  news,  and  embodied  in  both  cases 
their  editors'  maturest  thoughts  and  most  unselfish  service. 
Very  early  such  periodicals  were  made  the  organs  of  local 

Pedagogical  Library,"  noticed  in  the  text,  comprises  thirteen  hundred  and 
forty-eight  entries. 

*  In  the  Government  report  on  the  educational  exhibit  at  New  Orleans, 
1885,  is  published  a  sketch  of  "  Educational  Journalism  in  New  England," 
by  T.  W.  Bicknell. 


152  THE  PERIOD  OF  REORGANIZATION. 

or  State  associations  of  teachers.  The  "  Massachusetts  Teach- 
er "  was  so  begun  (1847),  the  "  Ohio  School  Journal "  (1852), 
the  "  Pennsylvania  School  Journal "  (1853),  and  the  "  Indi- 
ana School  Journal"  (1856).  A  file  of  the  periodicals  al 
ready  named  would  afford  a  fairly  complete  exhibit  and 
summary  of  American  education  for  more  than  sixty  years. 
Of  something  more  than  one  hundred  and  forty  such  papers 
started  prior  to  1870,  twenty  were  organs  of  State  Teachers' 
Associations. 

The  Barnard  "American  Journal  of  Education,"  estab- 
lished 1855,  has  already  been  referred  to.  At  first  published 
monthly,  it  now  appears  quarterly,  each  number  containing 
about  two  hundred  pages,  and  in  educational  biography,  na- 
tional and  foreign  school  systems,  it  is  very  full.  Upon  the 
whole,  no  American  journal  devoted  to  education  has  had 
a  more  general  or  salutary  influence  upon  the  higher  edu- 
cation, or  has  done  more  to  dignify  the  cause  of  liberal 
culture. 

Of  more  recent  journals  (of  which  there  are  about  three 
hundred)  it  is  well  known  that  their  undue  multiplication 
has  left  some  of  them  of  indifferent  quality.  Editorial  inex- 
perience and  ignorance  and  carping  bias  have  crept  in  at 
times  and  bemeaned  the  true  service  of  journalism.  Mere 
devices  and  formulae,  which  have  filled  so  large  a  place  in 
these  papers,  are  rarely  constructive.  They  are  expedients 
at  best,  and  of  themselves  add  neither  power  iior  insight. 
Such  literature  has  given  the  profession  neither  credit 
among  thinking  men  nor  confidence  with  the  people. 
Much  of  it  seems  both  trifling  and  puerile.  In  the  opposite 
of  this  appears  the  great  power  of  school  journalism  forty 
years  ago ;  it  was  uncompromisingly  in  earnest.  It  was  one 
with  the  spirit  of  co-operation  that  carried  reform  through 
communities  and  States  and  Legislatures ;  that  established 
systems  and  rationalized  methods. 

But  much  current  periodical  literature  is  creditable  also. 
There  is  a  manifest  tendency  to  combine  journals  of  limited 
patronage,  to  the  great  improvement  of  the  matter.    Each 


THE  PREPARATION  OF  TEACHERS.       153 

State  can  well  support  one  paper,  rarely  more,  as  a  medium 
of  frequent  local  communication,  on  legal  and  administra- 
tive matters,  with  which  every  State  teacher  should  be  famil- 
iar. But  to  every  teacher's  desk  there  should  be  brought 
(and  it  is  not  impossible  among  contemporary  journals) 
abundant  and  intelligent  comparative  studies  of  home 
schools,  with  the  best  thought  of  neighboring  and  foreign 
states  gathered  and  focused  upon  them.  It  is  believed  the 
tendency  is  strong  in  this  direction. 

But  there  is  apparent,  also,  and  on  the  contrary,  a  parallel 
drift  toward  specialization  in  educational  and  academic 
papers.  This  is  shown  in  the  multiplication  of  Kindergar- 
ten records,  health  journals,  and  exponents  of  manual 
labor,  primary  and  normal  schools,  etc.  More  especially  it 
appears  in  a  class  of  journals  published  as  the  represent- 
atives of  departmental  work  in  the  universities.  Of  this 
class  are  published,  in  Columbia  College,  "  The  School  of 
Mines  Quarterly,"  now  in  its  ninth  volume,  and  the  "  Pohti- 
cal  Science  Quarterly,"  begun  in  1886,  and  devoted  to  scien- 
tific investigation  in  the  field  of  economics  and  public  law. 
Of  a  similar  nature  are  the  Johns  Hopkins  "  Studies  in  His- 
tory and  Political  Science  "  (1882),  and  the  "  Quarterly  Jour- 
nal of  Economics,"  published  at  Harvard  since  1883.  From 
Johns  Hopkins  are  issued  also  journals  of  mathematics, 
chemistry,  biology,  and  philology,  and  the  recently  estab- 
lished "  Journal  of  Psychology "  ;  each  in  a  way  repre- 
senting the  work  and  being  under  the  control  of  the 
department  whose  name  it  takes.  How  large  a  field  is 
opened  here  for  the  increase  and  dissemination  of  knowl- 
edge can  only  be  roughly  estimated.  Such  journals  must 
make  easier  the  work  of  every  student  and  instructor  in 
these  lines. 

Altogether,  then,  periodical  literature  of  whatever  kind, 
bringing  together  and  publishing  the  freshest  information 
and  established  generalizations  in  special  and  general  fields, 
remains,  as  it  has  ever  been,  one  of  the  teacher's  readiest 
means  of  improvement. 


154  THE  PERIOD  OF  REORGANIZATION. 


C.    EDUCATIONAL   BEPORTS. 

Of  the  reports  of  school  officers  and  educators  it  may  be 
said  briefly  that  they  include  by  far  the  largest  part  of 
America's  contribution  to  the  literature  of  education.  They 
are  valuable  as  furnishing  statistical  and  other  data,*  for 
comparative  studies  of  school  systems ;  and  as  a  medium  of 
information  between  institutions  and  the  public.  But  as 
supervision  in  city  and  State  has  developed  toward  a  profes- 
sion, employing  a  trained  and  special  class,  the  annual 
statement  frequently  takes  the  form  of  a  monographic 
treatise  on  some  one  or  more  phases  of  education  or 
schooling. 

Among  State  reports  those  of  Horace  Mann  easily  stand 
first.  They  grew  out  of  the  system  and,  in  an  interesting 
way,  refiect  his  own  labors.  After  a  general  view  of  the 
administration,  they  were  usually  didactic,  discussing  vital 
questions  in  educational  philosophy,  with  a  vigorous  mind. 
Of  the  twelve  reports  some  have  become  historical.  The 
fourth  and  ninth  gave  a  comparative  exhibit  of  the  Massa- 
chusetts system.  The  seventh  discussed  European  schools, 
and  especially  the  Prussian  seminaries  for  teachers.  (It  was 
this  report  which  called  out  the  celebrated  "  Common-School 
Controversy  "  between  Mr.  Mann  and  the  "  Thirty-one  Bos- 
ton Schoolmasters,")  In  the  tenth  is  traced  the  origin  and 
growth  of  the  free-school  system,  in  which  he  formulates 
the  now  familiar  sentiment  that  "the  property  of  a  com- 
monwealth is  pledged  to  the  education  of  all  its  youth." 

"To  be  appreciated,"  says  Mr.  Barnard  "these  reports 
must  be  read."  No  abstract  can  exibit  the  fullness  of 
thought,  or  the  familiarity  with  which  the  questions  are 
handled.    "  We  know  of  no  series  of  educational  reports," 

*  It  is  of  the  first  iraportance  that  something  of  uniformity  be  secured  in 
the  taking  and  manipulation  of  ocnsus  items ;  the  records  of  attendance, 
including  continuance,  the  school  period  and  age ;  and  the  relation  of  the 
two  classes ;  those  entitled  to  school  privileges,  and  those  attending. 


THE  PREPARATION  OF  TEACHERS.       155 

he  continues,  "  by  one  mind,  in  any  language,  so  readable  or 
so  instructive."  The  Massachusetts  Board  (1887)  made  its 
fiftieth  report,  and  with  it  published  both  a  sketch  of  the 
legislation  of  the  State  on  leading  matters,  and  an  index — 
very  complete — to  the  entire  set.  It  compasses  the  educa- 
tional history  of  a  large  part  of  New  England.  The  Con- 
necticut reports  are  almost  equally  valuable,  and  those  of 
Rhode  Island,  especially  under  Stockwell.  The  New  York, 
Illinois,  and  Michigan  reports  are  authorities  outside  their 
respective  States.  The  interchange  of  such  literature  among 
the  States  promises  to  imify  the  systems,  and  to  equalize  the 
opportunities  as  no  legislation  can  do. 

Of  city  reports,  those  of  Boston  being  among  the  oldest, 
are  also  among  the  most  valuable,  particularly  those  under 
Dr.  Philbrick.  Excellent  features  are  to  be  found  in  those 
of  Chicago,  San  Francisco,  Cincinnati,  Providence,  etc.,  as 
doubtless  in  others.  But  the  most  complete  and  systematic 
presentation  of  educational  philosophy  is  to  found  in  the 
annual  reports  of  Dr.  W.  T.  Harris,  as  Superintendent  of 
the  St.  Louis  Schools  (1867-79).  The  following  analysis  *  of 
the  discussion  is  appended,  both  as  illustrating  their  scope, 
and  as  a  somewhat  connected  outline  of  educational  phi- 
losophy : 

1867-'68.     Discussion  of  Pestolozzianism  and  object-lessons. 

1868-'69.  Discussion  of  Leigh's  phonetic  system  of  teaching  read- 
ing. English  orthography  and  how  to  teach  it  with  the  least  loss  of 
time.  Defects  of  the  graded  school  system.  What  a  pupil  gains  by  a 
mastery  of  the  three  R's. 

1869-'70.  Discussion  of  the  co-education  of  the  sexes.  Industrial 
education.  German-English  instruction.  Library  classification,  a  scheme 
for  it.  How  the  branches  of  the  course  of  study  give  the  pupil  a  mastery 
of  the  woild.  How  to  conduct  recitations.  A  plan  for  local  supervision 
of  principals. 

1870-"71.  Moral  education  as  involved  in  the  school  discipline. 
Education  and  crime.     Eulogy  on  Ira  Divoll,  Superintendent  of  Schools, 

*  Taken  from  Hall's  "  Bibliography  of  Education,"  p.  242. 


156       THE  PERIOD  OF  REORGANIZATION. 

St.  Louis.  Syllabus  of  oral  lessons  in  natural  science,  and  directions  for 
teaching  it.     Music  instruction. 

18V1-'7U.  A  classification  of  occupations  in  the  United  States  pro- 
posed, and  a  discussion  of  the  occupations  represented  in  the  St.  Louis 
schools.  The  injury  to  the  district  schools  caused  by  a  too  strict  ex- 
amination for  admission  to  the  high  school.  Corporal  punishment. 
Germau-Enghsh  instruction.  Arithmetic  versus  Grammar  as  a  culture 
study.     The  psychological  significance  of  the  several  studies. 

1872-"73.  Method  of  promotion  and  classification  adopted  in  the  St. 
Louis  schools.  Discussion  of  the  psychological  effect  of  Latin  and 
Greek  in  education,  their  containing  the  embryology  of  our  civilization. 
Elaborate  discussion  of  the  branches  necessary  in  a  course  of  study  in 
district  schools,  high  schools,  and  colleges ;  what  each  branch  adds  to 
the  mental  structure  in  the  way  of  discipline  and  knowledge.  Identical 
co-education  of  the  sexes  discussed  in  the  light  of  the  history  of  the  three 
epochs  of  industrial  civilization.  The  library  and  its  significance  in 
modem  civilization.     Outline  of  educational  psychology. 

1873-"74.  Discussion  of  school  hygiene  and  the  lessons  funiished  by 
statistics  taken  in  the  St.  Louis  schools.  Grading,  classification,  class 
intervals,  and  promotions.  Suspension  of  pupils  versus  corporal  punish- 
ment. 

lSli-'"J5.    History  of  the  public  school  system  of  St.  Louis. 

18'75-'76.  The  school  architecture  best  adapted  for  good  hygiene. 
The  philosophy  of  the  kindergarten.  The  Centennial  Exposition  educa- 
tionally considered. 

ISTG-'VY.  German-English  instruction,  its  uses  for  towns  and  cities 
where  there  is  a  mixed  population  of  English  and  Germans.  What  the 
common  schools  teach  to  fit  pupils  for  their  future  vocations.  Half- 
time  schools  for  primary  pupils,  its  economy  and  hygienic  effect.  The 
proper  school  age.     The  results  of  the  kindergarten  in  St.  Louis. 

1 877-"78.     Teaching  United  States  history. 

1818-''19.  The  age  of  withdrawal  from  school.  Industrial  educa- 
tion. The  educational  influence  of  works  of  fiction  drawn  from  the 
library.  History  of  the  St.  Louis  kindergarten  system,  the  philosophy 
of  its  methods,  and  the  practical  devices  necessary  to  make  it  a  part 
of  the  public  school  system.  Oral  lessons  in  history,  syllabus  of  lessons 
for  all  the  grades  of  the  common  school.  Bird's-eye  view  of  the  en- 
tire organization  of  a  system  of  city  schools,  with  remarks  and  com- 
mentary on  the  practical  working  of  different  devices  in  vogue. 


THE  PREPARATION  OF  TEACHERS.       157 

In  this  day  of  growing  interest  in  higher  education,  its 
distribution  and  means,  it  is  encouraging  to  note  the  adjust- 
ment of  college  reports  also  to  the  public  demand  for  a 
better  acquaintance  with  these  agencies  of  culture.  The 
Harvard  publications,  especially  the  official  annual  state- 
ments of  President  Eliot,  have  left  in  large  measure  the 
formal  exposition  of  the  early  days,  and  have  shown  a  dis- 
position to  study  the  practical  questions  which  concern  the 
university  and  not  less  the  community.  The  report  of 
1883-'84  gives  in  a  terse,  plain  statement  the  history  of  elec- 
tions and  the  evolution  of  the  curriculum  in  that  ancient 
institution.  The  annual  statements  of  Cornell  also,  as  a 
representative  of  the  "  open  system  "  of  studies,  of  Columbia 
and  Johns  Hopkins  and  Michigan,  and  the  Universities  of 
Pennsylvania  and  California,  have  contributed  much  in  ten 
years  to  a  better  public  understanding  of  the  relations  of 
higher  education. 

Bibliography. 

"Normal  Training  in  Colleges,"  "Proceedings  of  New  York  Uni- 
versity Convocation"  (1883),  p.  342;  "Collegiate  Instruction  in  Peda- 
gogics," "  Report  of  Superintendent  of  Public  Instruction  of  New  York  " 
(1862);  "Chairs  of  Pedagogics  in  Colleges,"  Harris,  "Proceedings  of 
the  National  Council  of  Education"  (1882);  "Psychology  as  a  Branch 
of  Education,"  "  American  Journal  of  Education,"  vol.  iii,  p.  125 ; 
"  Education  as  a  University  Study,"  chapter  xv  of  "  Contributions  to  the 
Science  of  Education,"  by  W.  H.  Payne  (1886);  "Philosophy  in  Educa- 
tion," "  Mind,"  vol.  iii,  p.  225.  "  Educational  Psychology,"  by  Dr.  W.  T. 
Harris,  in  "Journal  of  Speculative  Philosophy,"  vol.  xiv,  p.  225  (1880). 
See  also  "  Educational  Reports,"  by  J.  D.  Philbrick,  in  the  "  United  States 
Commissioner's  Report"  (1884-'85),  pp.  xiv-xxiv;  and  on  "Educational 
Literature,"  "Popular  Science  Monthly,"  vol.  ii,  p.  713,  and  especially 
Poole's  "  Index  to  Periodical  Literature."  No  other  knowledge  can  ex- 
cuse ignorance  of  the  uses  and  suggestions  of  this  last  source  of  informa- 
tion. 


11 


158  THE  PERIOD  OF  REORGANIZATION. 

CHAPTER  X. 

RECENT  COLLEGES. 

A.  The  Curriculum. 

In  no  respect  has  the  modem  college  changed  more  than 
in  its  academic  constitution.  Between  the  average  curricu- 
lum of  1800,  and  that  of  the  most  conservative  institution  of 
to-day,  there  is  a  great  dispaiity.  Practically  siKsaking,  it 
is  the  difference  between  the  sums  of  knowledge  then  and 
now.  The  Harvard  of  1700  was  rich  in  contemporary  learn- 
ing. The  statement  would  apply  to  the  same  and  other  in- 
stitutions at  the  beginning  of  this  century.  But  how  has  the 
world  of  fact  enlarged !  Then  the  "  organization  of  knowl- 
edge "  was  comparatively  simple.  That  it  is  less  so  now  is 
one  mark  of  progress. 

Biology  belongs  to  the  present  century.  Chemistry  in 
the  same  time  has  been  much  developed  along  the  old,  and 
worked  out  in  new  lines.  Geography  in  its  comparative  study 
is  very  recent — from  Ritter,  indeed — and  in  its  descriptive 
aspect  has  been  enriched  by  vast  territories  within  half  a 
century.  Ethnological  investigation,  the  natural  systems  of 
botany,  together  with  its  numerous  economic  bearings,  and 
the  mdefinite  multiplication  of  our  knowledge  of  physical 
forces  and  their  phenomena,  come  within  the  ages  of  men 
yet  living.  Whole  fields  of  science  have  been  discovered 
and  inclosed,  and  others  reclaimed  from  the  dominance  and 
uses  of  mediaeval  dogmatism.  Both  geology  and  astronomy 
have  been  reconstructed  and  enlarged.  College  programmes 
have  been  made  over  by  the  claims  of  such  new  and  com- 
prehensive interests. 

Further,  the  current  and  recent  magnifying  of  the  hu- 
manities, the  growing  recognition  of  an  altruistic  and  co-op- 
erative spirit  in  civil  and  social  and  pohtical  life,  the  increas- 
ing complexity  of  social  forces,  new  aspects  of  government, 


RECENT  COLLEGES.  I59 

the  fundamental  oneness  of  all  life,  and  the  sequent  idea  of 
the  solidarity  of  human  society,  have  created  for  the  student 
new  lines  of  investigation.  The  history  of  customs  and  in- 
stitutions, the  growth  of  opinions  and  sentiments  as  crystal- 
lized in  social  forms,  the  study  of  governments  and  relig- 
ions, of  art  and  industry,  are  clamoring  for  place  in  the 
curriculum.  Comparative  philology,  with  the  enlarged  in- 
terest in  modern  languages,  belongs  to  the  present  period. 

The  rise  of  new  sciences,  dependence  upon  other  interests, 
and  this  multiphcation  of  facts  and  relations,  have  changed 
the  nomenclature  of  learning.  The  other  day  only,  a  lib- 
eral education  meant  fitness  for  the  professions.  But  in  no 
service  has  modern  thought  been  more  busy  or  more  icono- 
clastic than  in  the  silent  but  ceaseless  readjustment  of  the 
professions.  In  a  period  of  limited  knowledge  and  the 
imiversal  rule  of  authority,  a  course  of  study  was  easily 
made  and  as  easily  interpreted.  The  wants  of  a  homoge- 
neous life  were  met  by  a  conventional  training.  But  new 
views  of  nature  and  mind,  the  aging  of  institutions,  and  the 
interminable  complexity  of  custom  and  impulse,  give  direc- 
tion to  indefinite  individual  divergence  from  the  common 
plan.  The  history  of  higher  education  for  half  a  century  is 
largely  a  recoini  of  the  readjustings  of  the  curriculum  to  the 
Ufe — or  the  one  to  the  other — an  attempt  to  adapt  the  means 
of  culture  to  the  highest  ends. 

1.  The  Physical  Sciences. 

Speaking  generally,  and  not  confined  to  mere  chronologi- 
cal sequence,  the  earliest,  and  certainly  one  of  the  most  com- 
prehensive and  conditioning  modifications  of  the  traditional 
curriculum  is  found  in  the  large  infusion  of  the  physical 
sciences* 


*  A  valuable  contribution  to  this  question  was  made  by  tbe  publication 
of  Circular  6-1880,  by  the  Bureau  of  Education,  Washington,  on  "  Physics 
and  Chemistry,"  in  the  United  States.  Not  greatly  historical,  it  is  still  sug- 
gestive. 


160  THE  PERIOD  OF  REORGANIZATION. 

Though  having  twenty-four  colleges,  the  century  opened 
with  the  merest  excuses  for  nature-study.  Whatever  was 
known  of  the  physical  universe,  little  was  taught.  No  sub- 
ject better  illustrates  the  marvelous  development  aud  accom- 
panying specializations,  which  have  gone  on  in  the  field  of 
knowledge,  than  what  has  come  to  be  known  as  physical 
science.  Science,  among  the  early  colleges,  was  either  nat- 
ural philosophy  or  natural  history.  The  latter  was  little 
regarded,  and  the  former  generally  a  branch  of  or  compan- 
ion study  to  mathematics.  The  term  was  generic,  and  made 
to  include  not  only  physics  (to  which  it  is  yet  sometimes  ap- 
plied), but  chemistry,  geology,  and  astronomy,  and  had  fre- 
quently associated  with  it,  in  the  first  professorships,  both 
botany  and  zoology. 

A.  FHTSICS. 

The  department  in  Harvard,  known  as  the  Hollis  Pro- 
fessorship of  Mathematics  and  Natural  Philosophy,  and 
established  in  1727,  had,  in  forty  years,  accumulated  several 
pieces  of  apparatus.  How  well  this  was  used  can  only  be 
conjectured.  Mr.  Quincy  furnishes  a  list  of  those  lost  in 
the  fire  of  1764,  which  included  apparatus  Olustrative  of  the 
mechanics  of  gravity,  hydrostatics,  pneumatics,  and  optics  ; 
an  orrery,  a  number  of  microscopes  (magnifying-glasses), 
dials,  a  twenty-four-foot  telescope,  and  instruments  for  sur- 
veying.  Some  of  these  were  subsequently  replaced  by  Mr. 
Hollis  and  friends,  but  it  was  many  years  before  the  physi- 
cal laboratory  was  more  than  an  appendage  to  mathematics. 

After  Harvard,  Dartmouth  (1782)  and  Union  College 
(1797)  were  the  only  institutions  prior  to  1800  that  could 
be  said  to  have  given  any  respectable  attention  to  physics, 
much  less  to  the  other  sciences.  But  within  fifteen  years 
after  this  half  a  dozen  colleges  had  gone  beyond  them.  The 
University  of  Georgia,  during  the  year  1800  ;  Yale  and 
Williams  Colleges,  1803;  Dickinson  C!ollege,  1808;  William 
and  Mary,  and  Hobart  Ck)lleges,  1812  ;  followed  by  Colby 
University,  Maine,  and  the  University  of  North  Carolina, 


RECENT  COLLEGES.  161 

1818 — had  established  courses  in  mechanical  physics,  and 
possessed  more  or  less  of  illustrative  apparatus. 

In  the  year  1827,  James  F.  Dana,  a  professor  in  Dart- 
mouth College,  gave  a  course  of  lectures  on  electro-magnet- 
ism, then  a  new  and  little  understood  topic.  The  lectures 
were  popular  only  in  the  sense  that  they  were  properly  illus- 
trated by  experiments — a  method  of  instruction  quite  as 
new  as  the  subject,  and  the  audiences  were  general  as  well 
as  academic.  Mr.  S.  F.  B.  Morse,  an  artist  in  New  York, 
heard  Prof.  Dana,  took  practical  suggestions,  and  says  that 
from  that  course  he  had  his  "  scientific  birth."  Seven  years 
later.  Prof.  Albert  Hopkins  was  sent  to  Europe  with  a  com- 
mission to  procure  both  philosophical  and  chemical  appa- 
ratus for  Williams  College.  Returning,  he  was  thought  to 
have  furnished  a  rival  for  Harvard  even,  which  in  1840  was 
described  as  possessing  a  "  complete  outfit,"  including,  besides 
the  usual  apparatus  in  hydrostatics,  pneumatics,  and  the  me- 
chanical powers,  electrical  and  electro-magnetic  pieces,  an 
air-pump,  and  somewhat  in  illustration  of  the  polorization  of 
light.  Besides  these,  the  general  contributions  of  the  Rens- 
selaer School  at  Troy,  New  York,  are  well  known.  Indus- 
trial and  material  interests  were  being  everywhere  aug- 
mented. Surrounded  by  an  infinite  diversity  and  potency 
of  physical  phenomena,  and  material  products,  it  was  easy 
for  the  American  mind  to  be  inquisitive  and  objective. 
Private  interest,  the  national  character,  and  physical  en- 
vironment, were  all  helping  the  impulse  along.  But  the 
greatest  advance  of  science  along  the  line  of  physics  for 
recent  times,  began  with  Prof.  Joseph  Henry  in  Princeton, 
and  later  in  the  Smithsonian  Institution,  and  Prof.  Picker- 
ing's laboratory  in  the  Massachusetts  Institute  of  Technology 
(1867).  Deserving  of  special  mention  are  the  more  recent 
services  of  Yale  in  mathematical  physics,  of  Harvard  and 
Cleveland  (Case  School) ;  and  especially  of  Prof.  Langley,  of 
the  Smithsonian  Institution,  in  the  study  of  heat  and  light ; 
the  principal  original  work  of  the  period  being  done  in  light 
and  electricity.    The  making  and  using  of  machinery,  in- 


162  THE  PERIOD  OF  REORGANIZATION. 

vestigation  into  little  understood  forces,  their  application  to 
industrial  uses,  and,  finally,  the  study  of  them  from  a  love  of 
science,  mark  not  always  successive  but  closely  interrelated 
steps  in  the  growth  of  physical  knowledge. 

B.    CHEHISTRT. 

Though  chemistry  was  originally  a  branch  of  physics,  it 
•was  early  put  into  the  colonial  medical  schools,  and  the  first 
chemists  were  medical  students  or  practitioners.  In  this 
way,  as  belonging  to  materia  medica,  it  became  a  part  of 
the  course  in  the  University  of  Pennsylvania,  1768 ;  of  BCar- 
vard,  1782  ;  and  of  Dartmouth,  1798. 

But  in  the  year  1795,  Princeton  College  instituted  an  in- 
dependent chair  of  Chemistry — the  first  in  this  country — 
under  Dr.  John  Maclean,  a  young  Scotch  medical  graduate. 
WUliam  and  Mary,  and  Dickinson  Colleges  had  combined 
chemistry  with  natural  philosophy  twenty  years  before. 
But  that  in  Princeton  was  regularly  co-ordinated  with  the 
other  departments,  and  so  marks  an  era  in  the  development 
of  chemical  studies  in  American  colleges.  Columbia  Col- 
lege, five  years  later,  established  a  like  professorship ;  and  in 
1801  Prof.  Silliman  was  elected  to  a  chaLf  of  Chemistry, 
Geology,  and  Mineralogy,  at  Yale.  While  a  mixed  depart- 
ment, it  immediately  became  known  under  the  young  in- 
structor for  the  thoroughness  and  originality  of  the  work  in 
chemistry.  Directly  upon  his  election,  he  visited  Dr.  Maclean, 
at  Princeton,  went  through  his  laboratory,  and  afterward 
said  that  there  were  then  performed  the  first  experiments 
in  chemistry  he  ever  saw.*  Bowdoin  College  provided  for 
chemical  instruction  in  1805,  and  the  University  of  Georgia 
some  years  earlier.  But  candor  requires  the  statement  that 
most  institutions  offered  but  lectures,  and  the  best  of  them 
experiments  performed  by  the  instructors  only.    Laboratory 

*  "  I  regard  Prof.  Maclean,"  said  Prof.  Silliman,  "  as  my  earliest  master 
in  chemistry,  and  Princeton  as  my  starting-point  in  its  pursuit."  Fisher's 
"Life  of  Silliman,"  vol.  i,  p.  109. 


EECENT  COLLEGES.  163 

practice  of  students  was  almost  wholly  unknown.  Among 
the  better  courses  were  those  of  Dr.  Cooper,  first  in  Dickin- 
son College,  and  later  in  South  Carolina  College  ;  and  those 
of  Dr.  William  H.  Ellett,  also  of  South  Carolina,  who  did 
initiate  his  students  into  some  little  handling  of  materials 
and  manipulating  of  simple  experiments.  "  SUliman's  Jour- 
nal "  also  was  a  university  in  itself,  and  from  its  founding^ 
in  1818,  has  exercised  a  directive  and  conserving  influence 
upon  chemistry  and  chemical  instruction,  sadly  wanting  in 
most  other  sciences. 

Chester  Dewey  studied  under  Silliman  some  time  at 
Yale,  and  through  him  fitted  up  his  laboratory  at  Williams 
College  in  1812.  The  next  year  Prof.  J.  F.  Dana  was  em- 
ployed to  go  to  England  and  select  and  purchase  for  Har- 
vard the  furnishings  of  a  chemical  laboratory.  The  next 
quarter  of  a  century  was  a  period  of  general  activity,  no 
less  than  of  individual  inquiry  and  the  increase  of  knowl- 
edge. The  scientific  schools  of  Harvard  and  Yale,  and  other 
Eastern  colleges,  were  making  experimental  chemistry  better 
known,  the  Smithsonian  Institution  was  founded,  and  the 
American  Association  for  the  Advancement  of  Science ;  and, 
in  the  year  1862,  the  greatest  recent  impulse  of  all,  to  both 
physics  and  chemistry,  was  given  in  the  congressional  act 
providing  for  agricultural  and  mechanical  instruction,  in 
that  it  opened  the  way  for  laboratories  on  a  more  com- 
prehensive scale,  and  created  a  demand  for  experimental 
physicists  and  chemists. 

C.   GEOLOGY. 

Next  to  physics  and  chemistry,  one  of  the  earliest  devel- 
oped of  the  sciences  was  geology — not  always  distinct  from 
geography  on  the  one  hand,  or  from  mineralogy,  which  was  a 
branch  of  chemistry,  on  the  other.  It  was  included  in  Prof. 
Silliman's  department  at  Yale  in  1802,  and  so  continued 
until  after  the  middle  of  the  century,  when  it  became  a  dis- 
tinct chair  under  James  D,  Dana.  Among  the  older  geolo- 
gists, and  one  of  the  first  to  study  nature  in  the  field,  was 


164  THE  PERIOD  OF  REORGANIZATIOIf. 

Prof.  Amos  Eaton,  of  Williams  College.  He  has  been  called 
the  "Father  of  American  Geology,"  was  the  instructor  of 
Hall,  Dana,  and  Williams,  and  initiated  the  interest  in  a 
half-dozen  States.  Under  the  patronage  of  Hon.  Stephen 
Van  Rensselaer,  he  made  a  systematic  examination  of  the 
section  of  the  Erie  Canal  (1823),  and  explored  other  parts  of 
New  York.  During  the  same  period.  Prof.  Olmsted  was 
doing  a  like  service  for  North  Carolina  and  the  genei-al 
advancement  of  the  science  in  the  South. 

Another  phase  of  the  development  of  geological  study 
and  instruction  is  shown  in  the  beginnings  of  museums — 
botanical,  geological,  mineralogical — in  this  period.  Speci- 
mens had  been  gathered,  in  a  way,  by  various  institutions 
for  many  years;  but  in  1827  Williams  College  set  about 
doing  it  systematically.  During  the  summer  of  that  year 
an  exploring  party  was  sent  out — professors  and  students — 
to  Nova  Scotia,  and  a  quantity  of  mineralogical  and  geo- 
logical specimens  collected,  making  an  excellent  start  for 
a  museum.  These  expeditions  were  kept  up  for  many 
years,  and  all  parts  of  the  country  visited.  South  and  West, 
and  a  place  established  for  Williams  College  among  the 
originators  of  scientific  museums. 

D.    ASTRONOMY. 

Theoretical  astronomy  was  taught,  in  connection  with 
mathematics,  in  the  better  institutions,  even  in  the  last  cent- 
ury. Some  of  the  minor  instruments,  indeed,  were  used. 
More  than  a  hundred  yeai*s  ago  Harvard  boasted  a  tele- 
scope ;  but  it  all  effected  little  of  culture,  less  of  discovery,  and 
scarcely  more  of  illustration.  Princeton  provided  a  room 
for  instruments  as  early  as  1803.  Yale  had  an  improvised 
observatory  in  1830,  and,  but  seven  years  later,  Williams 
College,  a  separate  building,  and  si)ecially  equipped  under 
Prof.  Albert  Hopkins.  The  Hudson  Observatory,  at  Western 
Reserve  College,  was  fotmded  in  1839,  and  one  for  the  Phila- 
delphia (boys')  High  School  the  same  year.  A  few  years 
later  the  National  Observatory  was  established  at  Washing, 


RECENT  COLLEGES.  165 

ton,  and  shortly  after,  one  at  the  Military  Academy.  Up  to 
this  time  astronomical  instruction,  and  the  science,  so  far  as 
Americans  had  contributed  to  it,  had  only  a  nominal  exist- 
ence. The  instruments  were  but  ordinary,  and  the  methods 
those  of  authority  and  prescription ;  inquiry  was  dependent 
and  subservient.  Its  emancipation  was  coming,  but  slowly. 
In  1844  was  completed  the  Cincinnati  Observatory,  and  Prof. 
Mitchell  made  director.  Here  began  a  truly  scientific  and 
efficient  study  of  astronomy.  Not  more  for  what  it  did,  than 
for  the  spirit  it  exampled  to  science,  is  its  service  honored. 
The  Cambridge  (Massachusetts)  Observatory  was  erected  in 
1846,  and  that  of  Michigan  University,  at  Ann  Ai'bor,  in  1854. 
This  last  was  generously  equipped,  and  furnished  with  the 
most  modem  conveniences ;  and,  when  measured  by  the  first 
WUliams  College  foundation,  exhibits  the  rapid  growth  of 
seventeen  years.  Miss  Maria  Mitchell  was  for  some  years 
connected  with  an  observatory  at  Nantucket,  Massachusetts ; 
and  later,  for  nearly  twenty  yeai'S,  director  of  one  at  Vassar 
College,  where  she  made  for  herself  a  name  of  more  than 
national  reputation. 

A  few  years  earlier  than  the  last  events  recorded,  just 
prior  to  the  civil  war,  the  Clarks,  manufacturers  of  optical 
instruments,  had  established  themselves  at  Cambridgeport, 
Massachusetts,  and  have,  in  a  quarter  of  a  century,  done  much 
to  dignify  and  promote  astronomical  study.*  In  1862  they 
furnished  a  glass  for  the  University  of  Mississippi,  but  which, 
because  of  the  misfortunes  of  war,  was  ultimately  set  up  at 
Chicago.  It  was  eighteen  and  a  half  inches  in  diameter,  and 
was  thought  to  be  a  large  glass.  Ten  years  latei',  they 
erected  a  twenty-six-inch  telescope  in  Washington  at  the 
Naval  Observatory,  and  took  orders  for  another  of  the  same 
size,  which  was  finished  and  set  up  four  years  since  (1885)  at 
the  McCormick  Observatory,  the  University  of  Virginia. 

*  The  American  method  of  recording  astronomical  observations  by  means 
of  electro- magnetism,  it  is  acknowledged,  has  greatly  increased  the  efficiency 
of  the  practical  observer. 


166  THE  PERIOD  OF  REORGANIZATION. 

Princeton  and  Yale  both  erected  large  telescopes  in  1882 — in 
the  latter  institution  Denison  Olmsted  had  taught  astronomy 
fifty  years  before.  The  famous  Lick  Observatory,  Califor- 
nia, has  a  thirty-six-inch  glass,  and  the  largest  in  ixse  in  this 
country.  *  The  Warner  Observatory,  at  Rochester,  is  a  private 
institution,  but  one  of  the  most  efficient  in  important  discov- 
eries and  verifications.  Princeton,  the  University  of  Minne- 
sota, and  a  few  other  institutions,  have  separate,  endowed 
and  especially  equipped  foundations  for  the  use  of  students. 

E.    BIOLOGY. 

Natm*al  history,  which  was  for  many  years  the  all-inclu- 
sive science,  comprising  even  chemistry,  physics,  and  astron- 
omy, later  became  restricted  to  minerals,  plants,  and  ani- 
mals, in  their  normal  condition,  as  objects  of  observation, 
but  not  of  experiment.  Biology  is  narrower,  resting  funda- 
mentally upon  the  observations  and  comparative  studies  of 
the  organs  and  phenomena  of  life.  It  has  been  said  that 
biological  study  (in  the  universities)  began  with  Huxley  in 
England,  and  later  in  this  country. 

But  it  does  the  English  scientist  no  discredit  to  say  that 
American  learning,  both  in  colleges  and  outside,  presented 
instances  of  the  true  scientific  spirit,  in  the  study  of  life- 
forms,  many  years  prior  to  1875.t  These  instances  are  in- 
dividual, it  is  true,  and  were  not  always  connected  with  in- 
stitutions of  learning.  As  the  first  laboratories  were  private 
or  medical,  so  the  first  museums  and  studies  of  nature  in 
the  field  were  of  personal  preference  and  interest.  Through 
individuals  they  got  into  the  colleges— how  slowly,  is  em- 
phasized by  a  study  of  a  few  names. 

*  A  contract  has  just  been  completed  for  a  forty-inch  glass,  for  the  ob- 
servatory to  be  built  for  the  Leland  Stanford,  Jr.,  University,  in  California. 

+  It  is  well  known  how  revolutionary  and  regenerative  was  the  influence 
of  Agassiz  in  all  biological  studies,  substituting  the  comparative  for  the 
merely  descriptive  method.  The  Penikese  school  and  the  Harvard  Muse- 
um are  works  of  his  wonderful  genius. 


RECEXT  COLLEGES.  167 

Thomas  Herriott,  an  English  scientist,  a  man  of  wide  cult- 
ure, the  teacher  of  Sir  Walter  Ealeigh,  and  an  author,  made 
a  voyage  to  America  in  1585.  He  is  described  as  astronomer 
and  mathematician,  but  also  as  botanist  and  zoologist.  His 
natural  history  writings  were  numerous,  and  included  care- 
ful descriptions  from  personal  observation  of  twenty-eight 
mammals,  and  more  than  thirty  birds.  John  Smith,  it  has 
been  said,  would  have  been  a  scientist  if  he  had  not  had  a 
continent  to  rule ;  Dr.  James  Logan  early  lectured  on  physi- 
ological botany ;  and  John  Bartram,  the  Quaker  naturalist, 
built  a  botanic  garden,  the  first  in  this  country,  on  the  banks 
of  the  Schuylkill.  Linnaeus  called  him  the  greatest  natural 
botanist  in  the  world.  In  Harvard's  first  course  botany  was 
included — to  be  pursued  for  one  term  each  year  by  lectures 
only,  but  during  the  summer  term.  About  the  middle  of  the 
last  century  lectures  were  also  given  on  the  subject,  in  con- 
nection with  materia  medica,  in  the  College  of  Philadelphia. 
Of  the  same  general  character  were  Dr.  Hunter's  lectures  on 
comparative  anatomy  at  Newport,  Rhode  Island,  1754 ;  those 
on  natural  history  to  the  medical  classes  in  Harvard,  1788, 
and  by  Dr.  Mitchell  in  Columbia  College  four  years  later.* 
About  the  same  date  Dr.  David  Hosack  was  made  Professor 
of  Botany  in  the  same  institution. 

But,  with  all  this,  colonial  instruction  in  science  was 
scarcely  scientific.  It  was  meager,  almost  wholly  by  lecture, 
chiefly  theoretical  and  classificatory,  as  it  remained  even 
down  to  the  present  generation.  There  were  but  few  books, 
and  upon  the  part  of  students  no  field  study.  Nothing  sat- 
isfactory is  known  of  any  better  instruction  prior  to  1800. 
Prof.  Eaton  lectured  on  botany  in  Williams  College  1810,  and 
was  succeeded  by  Prof.  Chester  Dewey.  Among  later  men 
have  been  Gray  and  Dana  and  Baird  and  Agassiz ;  Martin 
and  Brooks  in  Johns  Hopkins,  and  Jordan  and  Coulter  in 
Indiana,  not  to  name  others  widely  known,  and  large  origi- 


*  Six  years  after  this  (1^98)  he  established  a  scientific  journal,  perhaps 
the  pioneer  in  this  country. 


168       THE  PERIOD  OF  REORGANIZATION. 

nal  contributors  to  biological  science.  The  subject  has 
been  greatly  enlarged.  Besides  the  first  descriptive  and 
structural  botany,  there  have  been  developed  the  whole  field 
of  microscopic  botany,  paleontological  and  geographical 
botany,  and  its  various  economic  phases,  as  in  agriculture, 
medicine,  and  the  commercial  arts.  Zoological  science  also, 
along  with  the  doctrine  of  evolution,  has  specialized  into 
new  fields  and  answered  many  of  the  old  questions.  The 
greatest  present  activity  among  institutions  and  individual 
scientists,  of  this  class,  seems  to  be  in  the  study  of  marine 
forms — absolutely  and  relatively  a  large  field. 

r.    THE    GENERAL   RESULTS. 

Chemistry  has  been  greatly  developed,  and,  so  far  from 
being  a  branch  of  physics  merely,  has  its  own  large  divisions, 
the  prosecution  of  whose  single  interests  occupy  men  a  life- 
time. Moreover,  besides  medical  chemistry,  and  organic  and 
inorganic  chemistries,  forms  thoroughly  distinguished,  it  has 
developed  along  both  quantitative  and  qualitative  lines,  from 
general  chemistry  into  agricultural,  domestic,  commercial, 
and  other  applications. 

In  physics  *  also,  have  been  constructed  almost  bodily 
the  accepted  doctrines  of  force,  and  of  particular  forces,  elec- 
tricity, magnetism,  etc. 

So  in  geology,  beyond  the  older  divisions  into  dynamic 
and  static  has  been  carried  on  the  study  of  particular 
periods,  pai-ticular  structures  or  processes  ;  and  historical 
geology  in  its  broader  developments,  economic  geology, 
microscopic  geology,  etc.,  have  been  added.  Biology  is 
wholly  a  product  of  this  century's  thought.  Resting  upon 
a  large  previous  knowledge  of  animal  and  vegetable  life, 
there  has  followed  an  enormous  increase  in  particular  zo- 


*  Inasmuch  as  the  university  study  of  physics  is  more  or  less  dependent 
upon  the  preparatory  work,  teachers  of  high  and  normal  schools  and  acade- 
mies should  see  the  little  book,  *'  Harvard  Preparatory  Physics,"  recently 
published. 


RECENT  COLLEGES.  169 

©logical  and  botanical  and  comparative  studies,  to  the  en- 
largement of  the  curriculum  many  fold. 

Of  the  several  courses  in  Harvard,  thirty  per  cent  are  in 
science,  and  in  most  other  contemporary  institutions  a  simi- 
lar large  ratio  obtains.  All  this  has  had  its  influence  upon 
the  accepted  curriculum.  It  could  not  be  otherwise.  It  is 
so  much  net  addition  to  the  sum  of  instruction  offered  in  the 
older  courses — even  those  of  a  century  ago.  It  has  come  to 
be  universally  recognized  in  the  colleges,  says  Dr.  Noah 
Porter,  that  "the  facts,  the  laws,  the  theories,  the  experi- 
ments, with  the  changed  conceptions  of  matter  and  spirit 
which  they  warrant,  the  new  view  of  the  nearer  and  dis- 
tant universe ;  the  discoveries  and  the  arts  which  the 
microscope,  the  telescope,  and  the  spectroscope  have  made 
possible ;  the  altered  conceptions  of  matter  living  and  dead, 
and  of  spirit  in  its  relation  to  both — all  these  should  be 
familiar  to  the  man  who  aspires  to  the  culture  of  the 
scholar."* 

Not  less  pronounced  have  been  the  modifications  of  the 
curriculum  along  the  line  of  philosophy,  psychology,  and 
ethics.t  The  enlargement  of  their  meanings,  comparative 
studies,  scientific  methods  of  inquiry  and  exposition,  and  the 
humanizing  of  interests,  have,  in  the  best  sense,  increased 
the  serviceableness  of  the  course  on  this  side.  How  much 
has  been  accomplished  by  a  few  institutions  is  only  equaled 
by  the  much  that  remains  to  be  done  by  most  colleges,  before 
the  study  is  rationalized. 

2.  Modem  Language  Studies. 

A  second  characteristic  of  contemporary  courses  is  the 
emphasis  put  upon  the  modem  languages.  The  impulse 
has  had  a  twofold  confirmation,  first  in  the  general  service- 

*  "  The  Ideal  Scholar,"  in  "  The  New-Englander,"  June,  1886. 

+  For  a  presentation  of  the  current  work  in  philosophy,  see  "  Science" 
for  May,  1886,  or  the  "  Library  Mafjazine,"  May  29, 1886,  "  Philosophy  in 
American  Colleges,"  by  John  Dewey. 


170  THE  PERIOD  OF  REORGANIZATION. 

ableness  of  those  languages,  but  equally  and  directly  in  their 
disciplinary  value,  as  culture-giving  studies. 

Necessarily  the  record  of  current  science  must  be  made, 
and  must  therefore  be  studied,  in  the  half-dozen  more  or  less 
of  living  languages  representing  the  field  of  original  in- 
vestigation. These  become  a  medium  of  preserving  and 
transmitting  the  products  of  investigation  into  not  only  the 
physical  but  institutional  world  as  well.  It  is  reported  of 
the  classical  scholar,  Prof.  Seeley,  that  while  "  recognizing 
most  strongly  the  value  of  the  classics,"  he  thought  "the 
needs  of  modem  life  were  peremptorily  demanding  very 
much  more  devotion  to  the  modem  languages  than  has  ever 
yet  been  accorded  them."  *  Indeed  it  is  this  supreme  utility, 
it  has  been  claimed,  which  is  the  prime  agency  in  raising 
their  study  "  from  the  status  of  an  accomplishment,  or  of  a 
commercial  art,"  and  making  them  to  take  rank  as  "an 
integral  portion  of  a  liberal  education." 

This  highest  recognition  of  them — the  scientific  study  of 
a  language  for  its  own  sake,  and  for  the  accompanying 
mental  discipline — was  the  outgrowtli  of,  as  later  it  supple- 
mented, the  study  of  vigorous  living  tongues  from  a  pei-sua- 
sion  of  their  economic  functions. 

How  great  is  this  divergence  from  the  traditional  defense 
of  the  classical  curriculum,  can  perhaps  best  be  appreciated 
by  first  taking  a  view  of  the  older  course. 

Naturally,  the  introduction  of  the  European  languages 
into  our  Western  schools  would  find  neither  encouragement 
nor  occasion  during  the  colonial  period.  But,  with  independ- 
ence once  achieved,  the  new  relations  fixed  new  obligations. 
Such,  for  example,  were  the  reciprocal  influences  between 
France  and  the  United  States  in  the  i)eriod  immediately  fol- 
lowing the  American  Revolution;  the  frequent  social  and 
general  intercourse;  the  growing  and  mutually  profitable 
commercial  interests;  and  the  necessary  and  ruling  diplo- 
matic relations  resulting,  that  the  study  of  the  French  lan- 

*  "  Modem  Language  Notes,"  February,  1888,  p.  74. 


RECENT  COLLEGES.  171 

gusige  naturally  followed.  Their  incipient  republican  im- 
pulse, and  a  waxing  protestant  spirit,  made  an  alliance  with 
the  new  European  thought  and  literature  both  easy  and  im- 
portant. 

Columbia  College,  under  Charles  Bellini,  established  a 
chair  of  French  in  1779,  and  one  of  German  five  years 
later.  Two  years  before  the  latter,  William  and  Mary 
College  had  Included  modern  languages  in  a  single  chair. 
Not  for  almost  haK  a  century,  however,  was  any  study  made 
of  their  literatures.  Harvard  had  provided  incidental  in- 
struction in  French,  even  during  the  heat  of  the  Revolution, 
but  with  no  professorship  until  1815.  Union  College,  New 
York,  had  a  professor  of  French  in  1806,  another  of  German 
a  generation  later,  both  of  which  had  been  merged  into  a 
chair  of  Modern  Languages  by  the  middle  of  the  century. 
The  one  inexplicable  official  act  of  the  time  is  that  of  Will- 
iams College,  whose  formal  acknowledgment  of  its  impor- 
tance, in  the  establishment  of  a  chair  of  French  (1793), 
antedates  the  professorship  of  Greek  and  Latin  by  a  quarter 
of  a  century. 

The  affiliations  of  the  South  being  generally  more  foreign 
and  less  provincial  than  those  of  the  North,  except  in  the 
institutions  named,  earlier  introduced  the  study  of  the  Euro- 
pean tongues,  especially  the  French.  With  the  opening  of 
the  century  South  Carolina  College  had  a  well-defined  and 
established  two-years'  course;  as  did  William  and  Mary, 
already  noted,  at  least  two  of  the  colleges  of  Maryland,  and 
an  occasional  academy  and  high-grade  seminary. 

After  all,  little  had  been  accomplished  beyond  a  few  in- 
structorships  in  French,  and  an  occasional  tutor  in  German ; 
both  taught  after  the  method  of  the  classics,  and  omitting  all 
literature.  In  this,  as  in  elementary  education,  the  greatest 
activity  has  been  since  1825.  This  period  includes  the  work 
of  the  Grimm  brothers,  the  rise  of  historical  grammar,  and 
the  comparative  and  critical  studies  in  language.  The  rapid 
increase  of  German  immigration  gave  a  peculiarly  practical 
aspect  to  the  demand  for  the  language,  and  led  to  its  in- 


172  THE  PERIOD  OF  REORGANIZATION. 

trod  action,  not  only  into  the  college  cvirriculum,  but  into 
many  secondary  and  elementary  schools  even.  This  two- 
fold impulse  to  modem  language  study  lent  it  a  new 
importance. 

Lafayette  CoUege,  Pennsylvania,  known  for  sixty  years 
for  its  modern  language,  Old  English,  and  something  of 
philological  interest,  led  out  in  the  newer  curriculum.  To 
the  French  and  German  of  Columbia  College  were  added 
Spanish  and  Italian,  Princeton  provided  modem  languages, 
and  Longfellow  went  to  Bowdoin,  all  within  five  years.  The 
University  of  the  City  of  New  York  opened  in  1831,  with  four 
separate  chairs.  Michigan  also  organized,  ten  years  later, 
with  a  modern  language  department,  which  in  1867  was 
erected  into  separate  professorships  of  French  and  Grerman. 
Yale,  noticeable  among  the  older  colleges,  long  contented 
herself  with  only  elementary  and  tutorial  instruction,  estab- 
lishing her  first  chair  of  Modern  Languages  but  twenty  years 
ago.  As  early  as  1825,  when  Hai-vard,  to  the  Smith  profess- 
orship of  French  and  Spanish  had  appended  Italian  and 
German,  Yale  was  led  to  consider  the  propriety  of  modem 
language  instruction,  but,  with  characteristic  conservatism, 
hesitated  to  endanger  the  dominance  of  the  classics,  and, 
while  having  a  chair  of  Arabic  and  Sanskrit  (1873),  voted  to 
strengthen  the  course  in  Greek  instead. 

In  most  of  the  older  institutions  now,  and  in  all  of  the 
recently  established  ones,  two  or  more  of  the  modem  lan- 
guages, either  in  a  single  department  or  separately,  are  recog- 
nized as  both  a  desirable  and  necessary  part  of  any  finished 
course  of  study.  In  the  University  of  California,  Cornell, 
Wellesley,  and  Bryn  Mawr,  Tulane  University,  and  Johns 
Hopkins,  the  new  State  institutions  West  and  North,  and 
slowly  throughout  the  South  (the  University  of  Virginia 
since  1825),  these  languages  are  accorded  a  place  beside  the 
older  classics,  mathematics,  and  philosophy  ;  taking  the 
place  of  the  first  in  the  curricula  of  industrial  and  mechani- 
cal institutes,  schools  of  science,  commercial  and  political 
departments,  etc. 


RECENT  COLLEGES.  173 

It  would  be  gratifying  if  as  much,  could  be  now  said  for 
the  increased  attention  given  to  the  university  study  of  Eng- 
lish as  belongs  to  other  modern  languages.  Whatever  argu- 
ment of  utility  applies  to  other  tongues  applies  equally  to 
our  own.  As  latest  developed  it  is  richest  in  the  possibilities 
of  comparative  studies  ;  historically  it  has  a  very  practical 
aspect.  And  yet  no  college  in  this  country  gives  anything 
like  so  comprehensive  instruction  in  the  philological  or  criti- 
cal or  even  the  practical  study  of  English,  as  in  that  of  most 
other  languages,  or  as  it  concedes  to  science  or  mathemat- 
ics. Perhaps  students  are  not  properly  fitted  for  this  work 
in  the  lower  schools.  If  not,  let  it  be  remembered  that  the 
raising  of  the  standard  must  originate  with  the  higher  facul- 
ties. Progress  in  education  (it  is  emphatically  true  of  the 
United  States)  is  downward  from  the  universities.  The 
initiative  must  be  taken  by  the  colleges  ;  and  no  phase  of 
American  learning  shows  more  present  neglect  than  the 
university  study  of  English. 

Supplementary  to  this  prominence  of  the  languages,  and 
as  its  logical  sequence,  is  the  increasing  attention  given  to 
advanced  philological  studies.  Initiated  by  the  great  learn- 
ing of  Leibnitz,  the  recognition  of  a  universal  kinship  of 
languages  found  a  deserved  and  formal  justification  at  the 
close  of  the  last  century  in  the  Zimmermann  "  Comparative 
Grammar,"  under  the  patronage  of  Catharine  II  of  Russia, 
and  its  first  authoritative  development  forty  years  later  in 
Bopp's  studies  among  the  Indo-Germanic  languages,  and 
Grimm's  "  Historical  Dictionary."  The  easy  freedom  of  our 
institutional  life,  and  the  uniform  encouragement  given  to 
new  and  promising  interests,  paved  the  way  slowly  for  phil- 
ological studies  in  American  institutions  also  ;  *  the  study 
of  language,  not  as  a  means  to  the  prosecution  of  other 
studies,  nor  yet  as  a  mere  mental  discipline,  but  as  a  legiti- 
mate field  for  original  investigation,  an  open  door  to  the 
ethnological  and  institutional  kinships  of  mankind. 

*  "  Harvard  Eeport,"  1883-'84,  p.  8. 
12 


174       THE  PERIOD  OF  REORGANIZATION. 

Bowdoin  early  established  a  chair  of  Oriental  Lan^ages, 
Yale,  of  Arabic  and  Sanskrit ;  and  Lafayette,  of  English  and 
Philology.*  But,  compared  with  the  more  recent  instruc- 
tion, much  of  the  earlier  was  both  superficial  and  diffuse; 
descriptive  rather  than  comprehensive  and  critical.  In  Co- 
lumbia courses  are  offered  in  Greek,  Latin,  French,  Italian, 
Spanish,  Portuguese,  German,  and  English,  with  at  least  one 
in  each  chiefly  for  senior  or  graduate  study  in  the  higher 
critical  literature  and  philology.  Cornell  offers  a  course  on 
ethnographical  philology,  and  general  linguistic  science ; 
Hamilton  College,  on  comparative  philology,  with  special 
reference  to  Greek,  Latin,  and  English  ;  Johns  Hopkins,  a 
course  in  comparative  philology  and  classical  antiquities,  and 
in  connection  with  the  classics,  but  having  a  special  profe&s- 
or  ;  and  Harvard  one  each  in  Greek  and  Latin,  compara- 
tive philology,  and  Eomance  philology. 

3.  Institutional  History. 

One  of  the  most  pronounced  changes  in  the  scope  and 
quality  of  the  average  course,  and  which  has  become,  if  it 
was  not  originally,  characteristically  American,  is  that  which 
has  enlarged  it  on  the  side  of  history,  the  study  of  social 
agencies,  and  the  growth  of  institutions.^ 

Very  early  in  the  Harvard  course  history,  such  as  it  was, 
shared  with  botany,  such  as  it  was,  the  honor  of  one  hour 
on  Saturday  afternoons  for  half  the  year.  No  considerable 
advance  upon  this,  either  as  to  amount  or  kind  of  work 
done,  is  shown  by  the  I'ccords  before  the  present  century. 
Both  Harvard  and  Yale  had,  from  about  the  time  of  the 

•  An  Essay  by  Thomas  Jefferson,  "  Toward  facilitating  Instruction  In 
the  Anglo-Saxon  and  Modern  Dialects  of  the  English  Language,"  is  a 
quaint  production  (1790),  and  well  worth  an  examination.  It  was  repub- 
lished half  a  century  afterward,  for  use  in  the  University  of  Virginia. 

t  '*  The  institutional  history  of  political  states  is  at  the  present  moment, 
perhaps,  tlie  subject  which  attracts  the  most  lively  attention  of  scholars," 

— J.  C.  MOBBISOK. 


RECENT  COLLEGES.  175 

Revolution,  included  ecclesiastical  history  in  an  incidental 
way,  but  with  no  particular  reference  to  other  social  institu- 
tions. Williams  College,  forward  also  in  this  as  in  the  study 
of  modern  languages,  provided  in  the  original  organization 
(1793)  for  instruction  in  "  natural  law  and  civil  polity."  Co- 
lumbia College,  the  only  other  institution  which  seems  to 
have  made  any  serious  attempt  to  encourage  the  study  of 
history  in  the  last  century,  was  fortunate  both  in  subject- 
matter  and  method.  The  course  is  described  by  Dr.  Adams 
as  "history  with  an  ancient  and  geographical  basis,  but 
with  a  modern  political  outlook."  For  the  most  part  his- 
tory had  not  been  set  off  from  the  anciently  allied  studies 
of  language  on  the  one  hand,  and  philosophy  on  the  other. 
The  historical  expositions  of  Prof.  Anthon,  of  the  chair 
of  Greek  and  Latin,  and  Prof.  McVickar,  of  Philosophy, 
Rhetoric,  and  Belles-Lettres,  both  at  Columbia ;  Prof. 
Hadley,  of  Yale;  and  Prof.  Gross,  of  the  department  of 
German  and  Geography,  and  later  of  Moral  Philosophy, 
illustrate  the  subordinate  place  of  history  during  this  pe- 
riod, as  late  as  1835. 

In  the  year  named,  Francis  Lieber,  a  political  refugee 
from  Germany,  and  but  a  few  years  in  the  United  States, 
was  elected  to  the  chair  of  History  and  Political  Economy 
in  the  University  of  South  Carolina.  In  the  twenty  years 
following,  besides  onerous  class-room  duties,  he  wrote  his 
manual  of  "Pohtical  Ethics,"  enthusiastically  commended 
by  Kent  and  Story,  and  made  the  text  of  all  best  instruction 
elsewhere ;  "  Great  Events  described  by  Great  Historians," 
the  "  Study  of  History  and  Political  Economy  as  Branches 
of  a  Superior  Education,"  and  his  chief  work,  "  Civil  Liberty 
and  Self -Government."  Chiefly  known  in  the  field  of  eco- 
nomics and  the  studies  of  government,  his  influence  in  di- 
recting the  educated  mind,  and  in  bringing  about  a  rational 
view  and  presentation  of  the  living  fruitful  facts  of  history 
has  been  of  inestimable  service. 

Four  years  later  (1839)  the  first  professorship  at  Harvard 
was  established,  and  Jared  Sparks,  pioneer  representative  in 


176  THE   PERIOD  OF  REOllGAXIZATIOX. 

the  study  of  modern  and  current,  and  especially  American 
history,  was  elected  to  the  new  chair. 

Two  centuries  had  worked  a  revolution  in  the  attitude  of 
culture  toward  historical  instruction.  In  Michigan  Dr. 
Whedon  taught  ''  Philosophy  of  History,"  succeeded  a  few 
years  later  by  Prof,  (afterward  Pi-esident)  Haven  in  the  new 
chair  of  "History  and  English  Literature."  But  the  long 
step  forward  for  Michigan,  in  respect  to  this  subject,  was 
taken  when,  in  1857,  Andrew  D.  White,  of  New  York,  grad- 
uate of  Yale,  1853,  student  of  President  Woolsey  in  this 
country  and  of  Laboulaye  in  France,  was  called  at  the  age  of 
twenty-five  to  a  separate  chair  of  History.  In  half  a  dozen 
ways  President  Tappan  had  shown  a  comprehensive  appre- 
ciation of  the  university  function,  and  a  far-seeing  manage- 
ment of  local  afiPau'S,  but  greater  wisdom  in  nothing  than 
in  the  strengthening  along  these  lines.  Prof.  White  re- 
mained in  Michigan  five  years,  and  set  national  standards 
for  study  in  political  administration.  Agencies  of  progress 
were  singled  out  and  made  the  objects  of  both  particular 
and  comparative  study.  Foundations  were  taken  in  a  lib- 
eral estimate  of  the  social,  physical,  and  culture  conditions, 
antecedent  and  contemporary,  of  political  and  other  institu- 
tions ;  and  it  is  safe  to  say  that  with  the  Michigan  service 
and  twenty  years  as  President  of  Cornell,  few  men  have 
exerted  a  wider  and  more  wholesome  influence  upon  higher 
education,  and  particularly  upon  national  and  social  studies 
than  Dr.  Andrew  D.  White. 

The  year  1857  has  been  recognized  as  a  way-mark  in 
American  political  culture.  While  Prof.  White  was  enter- 
ing upon  his  new  duties  in  Michigan,  Francis  Lieber  had 
gone  from  South  Carolina  to  Columbia  College  in  a  similar 
department.  He  remained  in  New  York  eight  years,  giving 
lectures  not  only  ui)on  history  and  economics  as  such,  but 
upon  international,  civil,  and  common  law,  as  well.  In 
1865  Yale  instituted  her  first  chair  in  this  subject,  which 
came  to  include,  besides  courses  in  general  and  ancient  his- 
tory, lectures  and  class-room  work  on  modem  and  constitu- 


KECENT  COLLEGES.  177 

tional  liistory  and  in  1868,  optional  exercises  in  Bancroft's 
United  States. 

Great  changes  have  occurred  in  the  twenty  years  since, 
in  the  multiplications  of  courses  and  the  accompanying 
specializations  of  study.  These  years  include  Dr.  C.  K. 
Adams's  work  in  Michigan,  Dr.  White's  at  Cornell,  the  en- 
largement of  the  course  in  Harvard,  Prof.  Dexter's  lectures 
on  American  history  at  Yale,  the  revival  of  the  course  at 
Columbia  (that  had  been  abolished  in  1865),  and  all  of  the 
Johns  Hopkins  instruction. 

Of  the  forty -seven  higher  institutions,  whose  reports  are 
given  by  Dr.  Adams,*  including  Harvard,  Columbia,  and 
Brown,  and  ten  leading  State  universities,  forty-six  report 
an  aggregate  of  one  hundred  and  eighty-nine  courses  in 
history  and  closely  related  studies.  The  development  of  the 
subject  in  half  a  century,  and  the  really  prominent  place 
(small  enough)  which  it  holds  in  the  progressive  college  of 
to-day,  are  rendered  apparent  by  this  multiplicity  of  courses, 
their  thoroughly  practical  character,  and  the  comparatively 
new  but  vital  lines  of  inquiry  in  economic  questions.  A 
look  through  a  dozen  college  manuals  reveals  the  fact  that 
to  the  limited  traditional  course  in  ancient  and  mediaeval 
history,  once  so  common,  have  been  added  new  lines  of  lect- 
ure and  research,  in  modern  and  local  and  institutional 
forces  and  phenomena,  many  times  enlarging  its  scope  and 
fruitfulness  :  forms  of  government  and  political  constitu- 
tions ;  history  of  political  theories  ;  history  of  diplomacy 
in  general,  and  of  particular  periods  and  peoples  ;  compara- 
tive history  of  religions,  of  constitutional  law  and  govern- 
mental administrations  ;  constitutional  and  political  history 
of  contemporary  governments,  and  especially  of  the  United 
States  ;  American  history,  etc.  How  large  a  field  !  To 
these  have  been  added  also  those  newer  subjects  growing 
out  of  the  commerical  character  of  contemporary  society  ; 
mercantile  and  administrative   law,  and  the  financial  his- 

*  "  The  Study  of  History  in  American  Colleges,"  p.  2C8. 


178  THE  PERIOD  OF  REORGANIZATION. 

tory  of  contemporary  nations  ;  State  and  municipal  finance, 
and  international  history. 

Of  a  piece  with  this  new  interest  in  modem  histoiy  in 
general  is  the  increased  recognition  of  the  importaaico  to  our 
schools  of  studies  in  American  history.  After  repeated 
recommendations  by  President  White,  Cornell  established 
(1881)  a  full  professorship  in  this  subject ;  according  to  Dr. 
White,*  the  first  department  of  the  kind  in  this  country. 
During  the  same  year,  however,  similar  provisions  were 
made  at  Harvard  and  the  University  of  Pennsylvania. 
Besides  these  tliree  schools,  courses  varying  in  definiteness 
and  scope  are  offered  at  Yale,  Columbia,  and  Michigan. 
From  the  department  in  the  University  of  Pennsylvania, 
the  literature  of  American  history  has  been  enriched  by 
McMaster's  "  History  of  the  People  of  the  United  States,"  and 
fi'om  Harvard  a  "  Short  History  of  the  English  Colonies  in 
America,"  by  Henry  Cabot  Lodge.  Not  immediately  grow- 
ing out  of  the  department,  but  intimately  associated  with, 
and  re-enforcing  it  as  it  re-enforces  such  interests  every- 
where, is  the  "  Narrative  and  Critical  History  of  America," 
by  Justin  Windsor,  Harvard  librarian.  The  work  is  to  be 
complete  in  eight  volumes,  each  division  of  the  subject 
being  treated  descriptively  for  general  use,  and,  for  the 
scholar,  critically.  Supplementing  both,  are  admirably  ar- 
ranged and  very  full  bibliographical  references,  and  clas- 
sification of  original  documents  and  rare  sources  of  in- 
formation. 

Following  are  the  divisions  of  the  work,  vols,  ii  to  vii, 
inclusive,  being  already  published : 
I.  America  before  Columbus. 

II.  Spanish  Discoveries  and  Conquests  in  America. 

III.  English  Discovei'ies  and  Settlements  in  America. 

IV.  French  Discoveries  and  Settlements  in  America. 

V.  The  French  and  English  in  North  America  (1689- 
1763). 

*  "  Official  Report  for  Cornell,"  1882-'88,  p.  20. 


RECENT  COLLEGES.  179 

VI.  The  American  Eevolution. 
VII.  The  United  States  (1783-1850). 

VIII.  Canada  and  the  American  Outgrowth  of  Continental 
Eiu'ope. 

4.  Economic  Studies. 

Not  less  striking  in  the  development  of  the  historical 
idea,  and  its  presentation,  is  the  kindred  growth  of  political, 
social,  and  economic  studies. 

The  need  for  political  education  hegan  to  be  felt  with 
our  national  birth.  The  peculiar  national  life  early  be- 
came a  subject  for  study  in  college,  academic,  and  other 
assemblies  where  citizens  were  schooled.  For  forty  years 
some  form  of  economic  instruction  has  been  more  or  less 
common  in  the  leading  colleges.  A  few  of  the  represen- 
tatives of  the  early  day  are  historical.  McVickar  taught 
political  economy  at  Columbia  College  as  long  ago  as  1817  ; 
and  the  well-known  author  and  economist,  Dr.  Cooper,  was 
elected  the  same  year  to  a  like  position  in  William  and 
Mary  College.  Francis  Lieber,  to  whom  reference  has  al- 
ready been  made,  began  his  political  lectures  and  writings 
in  South  Carolina  College  just  half  a  century  since.  Tor- 
rey  and  Bowen  initiated  the  work  at  Harvard,  and  President 
Woolsey  at  Yale. 

In  general,  however,  it  may  be  said  the  instruction 
showed  its  metaphysical  presupjMjsitions  in  an  a  priori  dog- 
matic treatment  that  left  it  barren  of  any  insight  into  insti- 
tutional life.  Not  until  within  a  recent  period  has  it  come  to 
be  studied  as  is  geography  or  ethics  for  their  higher  eco- 
nomic connections.  The  current  decade  (1880-'90),  indeed, 
includes  nearly  all  the  organized  effort  in  this  direction, 
and  is  worth  studying,  both  for  its  own  results,  and  as  an 
illustration  of  the  change  that  has  come  over  the  college 
course. 

The  principal  activity  is  shown  in  Columbia  College  and 
the  Universities  of  Pennsylvania,  Michigan,  Cornell,  and 
Johns  Hopkins,  having  special  schools ;   and  in  Harvard 


180  THE  PERIOD  OF  REORGANIZATION. 

and  Yale  ofPering  extensive  courses  in  political  and  eco- 
nomic studies. 

A.   COLUMBIA   SCHOOL   OF  POLITICAL   SaENCE. 

The  Columbia  school  was  organized  October,  1880,  by  the 
combination  of  forces  already  at  work,  and  which  had  been 
directed  to  this  end.  A  special  faculty  was  selected,  and  a 
course  of  study  covering  three  years,  and  embracing  a  his- 
tory of  philosophy  and  political  literature  as  the  basis  for  a 
rational  study  of  the  specific  questions  of  the  new  depart- 
ment. These  were  made  to  include,  besides  much  historical 
matter,  a  study  of  Roman  law  and  derived  codes,  consti- 
tutional and  comparative  administrative  law,  public  and 
private  international  law,  statistics,  and  communistic  and 
social  theories. 

The  purjjose  of  the  school  was  and  is  to  give  a  complete 
general  view  of  all  the  subjects,  both  of  internal  and  ex- 
ternal public  i)olity,  from  the  threefold  standpoint  of  his- 
tory, law,  and  philosophy. 

B.    THE    WHAHTON   SCHOOL    OF   FINA.VCE    AND    ECONOMY. 

The  Wharton  School  in  the  University  of  Pennsylvania 
is  rather  a  school  of  trade  and  the  principles  of  finance  than 
for  political  science  and  economics  in  the  usual  sense.  Its 
functions  are  peculiar.  It  is  more  professional  than  politi- 
cal, and  looks  to  the  manipulation  of  industries  rather  than 
the  administration  of  government.  Nevertheless,  it  has 
economic  bearings.  The  school  was  founded  by  Joseph 
Wharton  in  1881,  aiming  to  give,  in  addition  to  a  purely 
business  training,  an  extended  study  of  economic  princifiles, 
as  a  foundation  for  a  correct  political  economy  which  shall 
"  command  the  respect  of  thoughtful  business  men  who  are 
skeptical  conceraing  the  worth  of  that  usually  taught."  The 
course  covers  two  years,  and  is  re-enforced  by  a  library  par- 
ticularly full  in  industrial,  commercial,  and  economic  liter- 
ature. 


RECENT  COLLEGES.  181 


C.    THE   MICHIGAN   SCHOOL    OF   POLITICAL    SCIENCE. 

As  one  effect  of  the  experiment  in  Columbia  College 
(1880),  and  the  general  drift  toward  the  university  idea,  was 
the  establishment  of  a  School  of  Political  Science  at  Ann 
Arbor  (1881).  Similar  in  fundamentals  to  the  Columbia 
school,  it  developed  certain  new  lines,  which  give  it  an  in- 
dividuality. Lectures  were  given  in  general  historical  study, 
and  the  method  of  original  investigations,  political  economy, 
international  law,  civil  and  political  rights,  sanitary  and  so- 
cial science,  and  forestry.  Subsequently  were  introduced 
some  very  practical  and  fruitful  lectures  and  discussions  on 
public  surveys,  the  economic  development  of  mineral  re- 
sources, the  historical  development  of  educational  systems, 
municipal  government,  modern  diplomacy,  and  local  gov- 
ernment in  Europe  and  America. 

D.    THE    WHITE   SCHOOL    OF   HISTORY    AND   POLITICAL    SCIENCE. 

Instruction  at  Cornell  was  organized  into  schools  at  its 
founding.  It  could  not  well  have  been  otherwise.  It  was 
part  of  a  wide-spread  tendency.  Ciilture  should  no  longer 
be  bolstered  and  petted.  All  learning  should  stand  upon  its 
merits.  Alongside  a  full  presentation  of  the  dead  languages 
and  traditional  systems  were  offered  the  modem  languages 
and  their  discipline.  The  emancipation  of  the  sciences  from 
metaphysics,  and  history  from  the  Church,  and  politics  from 
monarchism,  was  a  task  worthy  of,  as  it  has  commanded, 
the  best  thought  and  most  liberal  means  everywhere.  As 
the  plan  developed  at  Cornell,  history  rapidly  appreciated. 
Social  and  institutional  life  were  dignified  with  the  profound- 
est  study,  Goldwin  Smith  and  James  Anthony  Froude  and 
Edward  A.  Freeman  were  invited  to  lecture  on  English  his- 
tory and  related  topics,  Theodore  W.  Dwight  on  "  Consti- 
tutional Law,"  and  others  on  their  specialties ;  but  the  lead- 
ing spirit  of  the  new  school,  as  for  twenty  years  he  was  the 
administrative  head  of  the  university,  was  President  White, 
dean  of  the  school,  and  lecturer  upon  French  history  and 


182  THE  PERIOD  OF  KEORGANIZATION. 

• 
institutions,  and  general  economics.    His  course  was  sug- 
gestive.   It  paved  the  way  and  laid  the  foundation  for  the 
recent  and  contemporary  political  and   economic   studies 
recommended  by  the  president  in  his  first  reports. 

The  school  was  formally  instituted  in  1882,  with  a  course 
extending  over  four  years,  two  of  which  were  to  be  chiefly 
devoted  to  a  thorough  preparation  in  modern  languages, 
mathematics,  and  history.  At  present  the  department  offers 
fifteen  courses,  with  five  alternates,  as  follows : 

1.  The  history  and  civilizations  of  Greece  and  Rome. 

2.  The  private  life  of  the  Romans. 

3.  Private,  political,  and  legal  antiquities  of  the  Greeks. 

4.  Political  and  social  history  of  Europe  to  the  French 
Revolution. 

5.  Political  and  social  history  of  England  through  the 
Napoleonic  wai^s. 

6.  General  history  of  Europe  to  the  Franco-German 
War. 

7.  History  of  America  to  1783. 

8.  Constitutional  and  political  history  of  America,  1783- 
18G1. 

9.  Problems  in  American  constitutional  and  political  his- 
tory. 

10.  History  of  political  and  municipal  institutions. 

11.  Growth  of  the  English  Constitution. 

12.  International  law  and  diplomacy. 

13.  Literature  of  political  science. 

14.  Historic  achievements  in  statesmanship. 

15.  Political  and  historical  questions. 

16.  Elements  of  political  economy. 

17.  Problems  in  political  economy  and  finance. 

18.  History  and  management  of  industrial,  penal,  and 
charitable  institutions. 

19.  Economic  questions. 

20.  History  and  significance  of  the  Roman  law. 


RECENT  COLLEGES.  183 


E,    THE   JOHNS   HOPKINS   HISTORICAL-POLITICAL    SCHOOL. 

This  course  is  No.  6  of  the  seven  groups  of  studies  con- 
stituting the  academic  work  of  Johns  Hopkins  University. 
The  department  employs  six  professors,  and,  in  addition  to  a 
study  of  the  general  history  of  institutions,  provides  lectures 
and  seminary  discussion  on  European  politics,  historical 
jurisprudence,  political  economy,  modern  historical  criticism, 
historiography,  and  modern  methods  of  historical  research, 
administrative  and  comparative  politics,  and  concrete  prob- 
lems of  social  science. 

The  work  throughout  is  carried  on  in  a  comprehensive, 
familiar,  and  practical  way ;  libraries  and  original  research, 
both  in  Europe  and  the  United  States,  being  made  to  con- 
tribute to  its  efficiency. 

F.    OTHER   INSTITUTIOVS. 

Yale  maintains  a  strong  department  also,  with  character- 
istic courses  upon  the  industrial  organization  of  society, 
sociology  with  an  elementary  study  of  human  paleontology, 
archaeology,  and  ethnology,  railroad  administration,  indus- 
trial legislation,  etc.  The  courses  in  Harvard  are  similar. 
Mention  should  not  be  omitted,  also,  of  the  like  instruction 
and  a  commendable  interest  manifested  among  Western 
institutions,  particularly  at  the  Universities  of  Wisconsin 
and  California. 

G.    HISTORICAL   LIBR.VRIES    AND  SEMINARIES. 

Besides  the  lectures  and  conventional  class-room  work, 
most  of  these  schools  sustain,  in  fact  if  not  in  name,  semina- 
ries, or  organized,  more  or  less  formal  societies,  of  students 
and  instructors,  for  the  carrying  on  of  original  studies, 
chiefly  among  advanced  students. 

Dr.  H.  B.  Adams  is  authority  for  the  statement  that  the 
seminaiy  was  first  introduced  in  a  simple  form  into  this 
country,  through  Michigan  University,  about  1869.  The  idea 
was  further  applied  in  Harvard  the  next  year ;  but  received 


184  THE  PERIOD  OF  REORGANIZATION. 

its  principal  impulse  in  the  department  of  the  Johns  Hop- 
kins University  in  1876.  Cornell  has  three  such  seminary 
bodies,  one  for  American  history,  one  for  political  studies, 
and  one  for  economics. 

A  necessary  accompaniment  of  this  seminary  work, 
whether  in  history  and  economics,  or,  what  is  not  less  com- 
mon, in  psychology,  in  physical  science,  or  philology,  is  a 
working  collection  of  selected  books.  The  Cornell  library 
for  such  use  is  one  of  the  richest  in  this  country  in  original 
and  standard  materials  for  economic  and  hLstorical  studies. 
It  contains  the  Goldwin  Smith  library  of  English,  and  the 
Sparks  library  of  American  history,  a  large  collection  of 
documents  on  American  slavery,  and  the  generous  gift  of 
President  White's  own  historical  library  of  thirty  thousand 
volumes.  Prominent  also  among  the  numerous  originally 
valuable  features  of  the  Johns  Hopkins  Seminary  of  History 
and  Politics  are  the  admirably  managed  and  well-used  spe- 
cial library  of  twelve  thousand  volumes,  containing  valuable 
manuscripts  and  rare  treatises,  the  newspaper,  Greographical 
and  Statistical  Bureaus,  and  the  Historical  Museum.  Few 
similar  schools  have  collections,  either  so  valuable  in  them- 
selves or  so  directly  and  without  restriction  available  upon 
occasion,  and  certainly  none  more  industriously  used.  In 
1882  was  begun  the  publication  of  the  "  Johns  Hopkins  Uni- 
versity Studies  in  Historical  and  Political  Science."  Six 
volumes  have  been  published,  including  papers  on  social 
institutions ;  economics ;  Maryland,  Virginia,  and  Washing- 
ton ;  municipal  government  and  land  tenure  ;  and  like 
questions,  and  represent  the  best  results  of  individual  and 
organized  original  inquiry  by  the  department. 

At  Harvard  also  as  an  organ  of  the  department  is  main- 
tained the  "  Quarterly  Journal  of  Economics,"  supported  by 
the  income  from  a  fund  of  fifteen  thousand  dollars. 

BiUiography. 

"Science  in  American  Colleges,"  the  "Century  Magazine,"  April, 
1882;  "The  Beginnings  of  Natural  History  in  America,"  by  G.  Brown 


RECENT  COLLEGES.  185 

Good,  "  Proceedings  of  the  Biological  Society,"  Washington,  D.  C,  Feb- 
ruary, 1886 ;  the  "  Teaching  of  Chemistry  and  Physics  in  the  United 
States,"  F.  W.  Clarke,  "Bureau  of  Education,"  Circular  No.  6,  1881; 
"  Biological  Teaching  in  Colleges,"  W.  G.  Farlow,  "  Popular  Science 
Monthly,"  March,  1886;  "The  Growth  and  Development  in  the  Teaching 
of  Science  in  the  Schools  and  Colleges  of  New  York,"  in  ninety-eighth 
"  Report  of  the  Regents  of  the  University  of  the  State  of  New  York " 
(1884);  "A  Century  of  Abstract  Science  in  America,"  Simon  Newcomb, 
"North  American  Review"  (18*76).  A  valuable  contribution  to  the  dis- 
cussion of  this  question  was  made  in  the  "  Culture  demanded  by  Modem 
Life,"  E.  L.  Youmans  (1867),  and  its  companion  volume,  as  a  sort  of 
reply,  "  Classical  Study,  its  Value  illustrated  by  Extracts  from  the  Writ- 
ings of  Eminent  Scholars,"  by  S.  H.  Taylor  (1 870). 

Consult  also  "  Modern  Language  as  a  College  Discipline,"  by  A.  M. 
Elliott,  "Education,"  vol.  v  (18S4);  the  "Position  of  Modern  Languages 
in  Higher  Education,"  "Proceedings  of  the  National  Educational  Asso- 
ciation" (1876),  p.  Ill;  "History  of  Classical  Education,"  by  C.  S. 
Parker,  in  Farrar's  "  Essays  on  a  Liberal  Education " ;  "A  College 
Fetich,"  by  C.  F.  Adams,  Jr.,  "Independent,"  August  9  (1883);  the 
"  Study  of  Language  in  a  Liberal  Education,"  by  J.  Bascom,  "  Proceed- 
ings of  National  Educational  Association"  (1884),  p.  273;  "On  the 
Function  of  the  Study  of  Latin  and  Greek  in  Education,"  by  William  T. 
Harris,  "  American  Journal  of  Social  Science,"  vol.  xx,  p.  1 ;  "  The  Classi- 
cal Question  in  Germany,"  by  E.  J.  James,  "  Popular  Science  Monthly," 
January,  1884  ;  the  "Place  of  English  in  the  College  Curriculum,"  "Yale 
Review,"  February,  1886;  and  "English  in  our  Colleges,"  by  A.  S.  Hill, 
"Scribner's  Magazine,"  April,  1887. 

See  "Manual  of  Historical  Literature,"  by  C.  K.  Adams  (1882); 
"Methods  of  Historical  Study,"  by  E,  A.  Freeman  (1886);  "Methods  of 
Teaching  History,"  by  G.  S.  Hall  (1885);  and  the  "Study  of  American 
History  in  Schools  and  Colleges,"  by  F.  M.  Thorpe ;  also,  a  "  Pica  for 
the  Study  of  American  Institutions  in  American  Schools,"  by  F.  M. 
Thorpe,  "Education,"  November,  1886;  "A  Narrative  and  Critical  His- 
tory of  the  United  States,"  by  Justin  Windsor ;  "  Outline  of  a  Proposed 
School  of  Political  and  Social  Science,"  E.  J.  James  (1885) ;  "  Economic 
Science  in  America,"  C.  F.  Dunbar,  "North  American  Review"  (1876); 
"  Of  the  Study  of  Politics,"  Woodrow  Wilson,  "  Princeton  Review," 
March,  1887 ;  and  "  European  Schools  of  History  and  Politics,"  by 
Andrew  D.  White  (1887). 


186  THE  PERIOD  OF  REORGANIZATION. 

CHAPTER  XI. 

RECENT  COLLEGES.— {Continued.) 

5.  Elective  Courses. 

Supplementing  these  modifications,  and  in  some  degree 
made  necessary  by  them  and  marking  their  cuhnination, 
is  the  large  privilege  of  option  accorded  students  in  follow- 
ing a  course  of  study. 

The  conditions  leading  to  this  changed  attitude  of  the 
educated  and  general  public  toward,  and  the  newer  ideas 
of  a  liberal  education,  are  manifold.  Something  may  doubt- 
less be  ascribed  to  a  very  general  withdrawal  of  author- 
ity in  all  matters,  domestic,  civil,  and  political,  as  well  as 
educational.  That  this  influence  is  one  whose  working  and 
effect  are  not  calculable,  and  is  indefinitely  and  variously 
estimated,  but  universally  recognized,  only  serves  to  dignify 
the  fact.  Besides,  the  fundamental  American  trait,  protest- 
ant  and  confident,  initiates  a  zeal  for  change,  an  impatience 
of  tasks  and  restraints  ;  and,  along  with  a  very  natural  in- 
tolerance of  the  wisdom  of  experience,  suffers  a  confidence 
in  untried  methods,  a  wealth  of  risk,  and  speculation,  and 
hopefulness,  which,  to  a  people  of  ancestral  foundations, 
forebode  only  ill. 

The  growth  of  a  people  also,  surrounded  by  and  within 
reach  of  abundant  material  resources  ;  stirred  by  constant 
exhibitions  of  material  progress  ;  influenced  by  present  con- 
siderations ;  early  forced  into  competitions  for  place,  and 
personal  aggrandizement,  and  local  advantages  ;  in  a  coun- 
try where  the  virtues  of  party  and  sect  are  exalted  ;  and, 
intoxicated  by  an  almost  unbroken  record  of  achievements — 
easily  divorces  the  public  regard  from  the  traditional  re- 
generations of  a  pronounced  humanistic  culture,  and  breeds 
a  warranted  but  sometimes  tmwise  demand  for  the  merely 
expedient  and  useful.    Further,  the  early  training  in  self- 


RECENT  COLLEGES.  187 

control  which  lies  at  the  basis  of  our  individual  sovereign- 
ty and  the  rapid  maturing  of  American  youth,  suggest  a 
limited  prescription  and  freer  appointments  throughout 
society.  A  citizenship  at  twenty-one  must  rest  upon  a  pre- 
vious training  in  self -direction,  making  the  assumption  of 
that  citizenship  rational.  That  the  sentiment  may  be  un- 
wise though  soundly  inspired,  and  yet  find  a  general  indorse- 
ment, is  not  improbable.  The  imminence  of  citizenship  to 
every  student  sets  limits  to  authority,  and  fosters  the  tend- 
ency to  early  independence. 

It  has  been  aptly  said  by  a  recent  writer :  *  "  The  American 
college  curriculum,  at  the  time  when  most  of  us  became  ac- 
quainted with  it,  was  a  very  definite  thing,  time-honored, 
and  commanding  a  certain  respect  from  its  correspondence 
with  the  theory  on  which  it  is  based.  Its  fiindamental  idea 
was  discipline  of  the  mind.  Its  mode  of  effecting  this  was, 
in  large  part,  by  shutting  the  student's  eyes  to  the  distract- 
ing and  inconsequential  present,  and  fixing  his  gaze  on  that 
which  was  great  and  good,  and  hard  to  understand,  in  the 
l^ast.  The  main  work  of  the  course  consisted  of  drill  in 
grammar  and  mathematics  ;  and  the  results  of  this  training 
were  bound  together,  at  the  hands  of  the  president,  by  a  final 
exposition  of  such  of  the  speculations  of  philosophers  as 
seemed  to  him  safe  and  substantial.  This  work  lasted — for 
reasons  so  old  as  to  be  long  since  forgotten — just  four  years, 
and  was  preceded  by  a  certain  very  definite  amount  of  drill 
of  much  the  same  kind,  which  was  regarded  as  a  necessary 
preliminary  to  the  other  work." 

This  is  no  caricature,  but  a  statement  of  recorded  fact ; 
not  all  the  merit  belongs  to  the  new  education  ;  the  old-time 
learning,  too,  was  worth  treasuring  ;  but  that  such  educa- 
tion would  no  longer  be  called  "  liberal "  has  the  most  schol- 
arly testimony.  With  the  changed  human  relations  have 
come  new  estimates,  and  the  growing  impression  that 
"  the  languages  of  Greece  and  Eome  can  never  again  be 

*  Dr.  Da^•id  S.  Jordan,  "  Science  Sketches,"   p.  230. 


188  THE  PERIOD   OF  REORGANIZATION. 

considered — as  they  were  once — almost  the  sole  requisites  of 
a  liberal  education."  * 

The  enlargement  of  the  curriculum,  due  to  the  great  in- 
crease of  the  field  of  knowledge — both  spiritual  and  physi- 
cal science — has  already  been  suggested  as  historically  con- 
ditioning the  lapse  of  the  prescribed  course.  Science,  his- 
tory, and  their  comparative  studies ;  philosophy  that  is  not 
metaphysics  and  is  more  than  speculation;  anthi-opology 
— the  comparative  study  of  races,  language,  and  customs; 
the  evolution  of  laws,  and  ideals  of  cultui*e — all  represent 
legitimate  lines  of  development  and  perfection.  Neither  can 
all  be  included  nor  these  omitted. 

A.   BEGINNINGS  OF  THE   OPEN  STSTElf. 

It  can  not  perhaps  be  said  where  or  when  the  freedom  to 
select  studies  was  first  formally  allowed  to  students  in  our 
American  schools.  Indeed,  it  is  a  matter  of  no  great  impor- 
tance; it  grew.  The  privilege  has  been  granted;  is  now 
used  in  every  State,  perhaps  in  a  majority  of  all  our  colleges 
— in  some  institutions,  too,  where  it  should  not  be  found. 
But  the  change  is  made,  or  making,  and  is  part  of  an  im- 
pulse as  old  as  the  century.  This  change  in  the  curriculum, 
which  in  the  older  institutions  has  been  brought  about 
through  years  of  experiment,  and  at  the  expense  of  much 
halting  and  indecision,  the  newer  colleges  possess  as  an 
inheritance.  Sixty  years  span  most  that  is  historic  in  the 
question. 

It  would  be  interesting  to  trace  to  their  origin  the  liberal, 
but  to  Americans  then  unfamiliar,  notions  of  Jefferson,  Pres- 
ident Nott,  Francis  Wayland,  Joseph  Story,  Prof.  Ticknor, 
and  others,  touching  this  movement.  It  has  a  tendency  to 
lead  one  into  a  kind  of  hero-worship  to  know  how  large  a 
place  the  ideas  of  a  few  men  have  filled  in  the  educational 
history  of  this  country,  until  it  is  found  that  the  few  men 

*  Dr.  Clukse,  "  Liberal  Education,"  address  at  the  opening  of  Bryn 
Mawr  College,  1885. 


RECENT  COLLEGES.  189 

were  exponents  of  a  common  sentiment,  in  whose  minds  the 
general  impulse  took  shape,  and  who  so  became  public 
spokesmen. 

The  early  efforts  to  establish  mechanics'  and  manual  la- 
bor institutes  are  interesting  as  marking  a  reaction  against 
the  dominance  of  language  and  metaphysics,  and  an  ingen- 
uous appeal  for  a  larger  recognition  of  the  physical  sciences. 
The  University  of  the  City  of  New  York,  in  1830,  organized 
with  sixteen  departments,  one  half  of  which  were  of  science 
and  the  modern  languages.  Union  college,  under  Dr.  Eliph- 
alet  Nott,  established  and  maintained  for  many  years  both 
classical  and  non-classical  courses;  the  latter  substituting 
German  and  an  increased  amount  of  mathematics  in  place 
of  the  classics,  and  both  admitting  a  limited  choice  within 
the  courses. 

Harvard  also  was  early  led  to  consider  the  "fitness  of 
the  course  of  instruction,"  possibly  at  the  suggestion,  cer- 
tainly with  the  support,  of  Judge  Story,  and  in  the  year  1824 
provided,  through  the  corporation  and  overseers,  and  against 
the  judgment  of  the  faculty,  "  for  the  consideration,  to  a  lim- 
ited extent,  of  the  desires  of  students  in  the  arrangement  of 
their  studies."  Under  this  provision,  French  and  Spanish 
were  offered  as  "  voluntaries  "  by  Prof.  Ticknor,  and  with 
minor  interruptions  continued  so  throughout  his  own,  and 
Prof.  Longfellow's  connection  with  the  institution,  for  twenty 
years.  Further  than  this,  with  the  exception  that  juniors 
might  choose  a  substitute  for  one  term  of  Hebrew,  and  seniors 
between  chemistry  and  fluxions,  all  the  studies  of  the  college 
were  required,  as  they  had  been  for  two  centuries. 

B.   THE  X7NITERSITY   OF   VIRGINIA. 

One  of  the  most  interesting  of  American  university  foun- 
dations is  that  of  the  University  of  Virginia.  Its  constitution 
and  management  are  full  of  instruction  to  institutions  both 
older  and  younger.  Fortunate  in  wise  direction,  its  com- 
pi*ehensive  organization  has  been  more  or  less  copied  by 
institutions  of  even  greater  pretensions. 
13 


190       THE  PERIOD  OF  REORGANIZATIOX. 

He  who  would  know  the  origin  and  inauguration,  and 
from  them  learn  of  the  inner  sph'it,  of  the  University  of  Vir- 
ginia, must  read  the  life  and  study  the  correspondence  of 
Thomas  Jefferson.  He  was  the  controlling  spirit  in  the  en- 
terprise from  its  inception  till  his  death.  His  letters  to  Ca- 
bell and  Dr.  Priestley  and  Thomas  Cooper  and  John  Adams 
are  full  of  interrogation  and  suggestion  and  plan  concern- 
ing a  "  real  university." 

As  early  as  1779,  while  yet  the  "  Old  Dominion  "  with  her 
sister  States  was  embroiled  in  a  doubtful  war ;  and  again  in 
1814,  after  numerous  defeats  and  constant  opposition  from 
the  already  established  William  and  Mary  College,  from  the 
Protestant  churches,  and  from  most  of  the  political  leaders 
of  the  time,  Mr.  Jefferson  and  his  friends  sought  to  provide 
for  the  State,  along  with  a  general  system  of  education,  a 
university,  in  which  should  be  taught  in  the  highest  degree, 
"  every  branch  of  knowledge,  whether  calculated  to  enrich, 
stimulate,  and  adorn  the  understanding,  or  to  be  useful  in " 
the  arts  and  practical  business  of  life."  Five  years  later 
(1819)  an  act  of  the  Assembly  was  obtained  establishing 
the  University  of  Virginia.  When  six  years  later  it  was 
opened,  after  a  wide  acquaintance  and  careful  study  of  the 
most  progressive  institutions  in  the  United  States,  it  was 
found  that  in  discipline  and  instruction,  in  constitution  and 
means,  it  very  materially  differed  from  them  all.  In  Mr. 
Jefferson's  words  publishing  his  plan  it  was  said :  "  There  is 
one  practice  from  which  we  shall  certainly  vary,  although 
it  has  been  copied  by  nearly  every  college  and  academy  in 
the  United  States.  Tliat  is  the  holding  of  the  students  all  to 
one  prescribed  course  of  reading,  and  disallowing  exclusive 
application  to  those  branches  only  which  are  to  qualify 
them  for  the  particular  vocation  to  which  they  are  destined. 
We  shall^  on  the  contrary,  allow  them  uncontrolled  choice 
in  the  lectures  tliey  shall  choose  to  attend,  and  require  ele- 
mentary qualifications  only,  and  sufficient  age."  * 

•  Letters  to  Prof.  George  Ticknor.    Sec  also  Jefferson's  "Works,"  vol. 


RECENT  COLLEGES.  191 

Substantially  this  policy  has  been  in  operation  ever  since, 
now  (1889),  sixty-four  years.  There  is  no  curriculum  of 
studies  as  in  most  institutions  of  like  grade.  Each  distinct 
branch  of  knowledge  is  assigned  to,  and  presented  by  a  sep- 
arate "  School,"  under  the  exclusive  charge  of  its  own  pro- 
fessors, and  conferring  its  own  certificate.  The  eight  schools 
with  which  the  university  opened,  have  expanded  to  nine- 
teen— twelve  academic  and  seven  professional.  The  aca- 
demic schools  are  of  two  classes,  the  literary  and  the  scien- 
tific. The  former  (literary)  comprise  Latin,  Greek,  mod- 
ern languages,  English  language  and  literature,  historical 
science,  and  moral  philosophy;  the  latter  (scientific  schools), 
mathematics,  natural  philosophy,  general  chemistry,  analytic 
and  agricvQtural  chemistry,  natural  history  and  geology,  and 
practical  astronomy. 

The  professional  schools  are  of  four  classes,  the  medical 
department,  three  schools ;  the  law  department,  two  schools ; 
the  engineering  and  agricultural  departments,  one  school 
each.  Each  of  these  nineteen  schools  is  independent  of 
every  other,  both  as  to  subjects  included  and  internal  con- 
trol. This  is  the  "  freedom  of  teaching,"  widely  known  as 
one  of  the  cardinal  principles  of  the  German  university  sys- 
tem ;  and  is  the  correlative  of  that  (to  them)  equally  funda- 
mental "freedom  of  learning"  which  in  this  country  has 
come  to  be  known  as  the  "  open  system,"  *  or  elective  prin- 
ciple. 

C.    HARVARD    UNIVERSITY. 

In  view  of  its  historical  development,  the  most  valuable 
information  concerning  optional  courses  comes  from  Har- 
vard, The  oSicial  reports  for  years  have  been  suggestive 
upon  many  points  of  interest  to  college-men,  and  especially 

viii,  p.  300.    Also  "  Thomas  Jefferson  and  the  University  of  Virginia,"  by 
II.  B.  Adams. 

*  This,  as  it  appears  in  the  University  of  Virginia,  is  very  clearly  set 
forth  by  Prof.  J.  M.  Gamctt  in  "  The  Andover  Review,"  April,  1886, 
under  the  title  "  The  Elective  System  of  the  University  of  Virginia. 


192       THE  PERIOD  OF  REORGANIZATION. 

upon  this.  Harvard  is  distinguished  as  not  only  foremost 
among  the  institutions  of  the  country,  but  forward  in  the 
effort  to  adapt  the  resources  of  the  university  to  the  modem 
conditions,  and  the  current  demands  of  highest  culture.  In 
a  generous  way  it  has  been  recognized  by  general,  official, 
and  special  reports,  and  in  frequent  public  discussion  that, 
"  the  experience  of  Harvard,  during  the  long  transition  from 
a  imiform  required  curriculmn  to  a  regulated  freedom  in 
choice  of  studies,"  might  be  helpful  to  other  institutions. 
And  from  the  records  preserved,  for  more  than  fifty  years, 
the  steps  of  advance  and  occasional  retrogression  can  be 
studied  for  Harvard  as  for  almost  no  other  institution  in 
this  country. 

After  the  first  liberal  impulse  under  the  influence  of  Judge 
Story  (1824),  little  more  was  done  for  many  years  than  to 
work  over  and  revise  the  original  plan.  Within  eight  years, 
however,  half  the  students  in  modem  languages  were  taking 
the  study  as  an  extra,  or  a  substitute ;  as  a  result  of  which 
success,  a  like  concession  for  a  time  was  made  to  mathemat- 
ics, Greek,  Latin,  theology,  philosophy,  logic,  and  rhetoric. 
Having  little  encouragement,  outside  the  department  of 
French,  less  was  accomplished.  Really,  the  extension  was 
discouraged,  extras  in  most  of  these  subjects  being  paid  for 
in  students'  fees. 

In  1841,  however,  there  was  adopted  a  course,  which 
President  Eliot  describes  as  "  by  far  the  broadest  plan  en- 
acted up  to  that  time."  For  the  freshman  year  all  the 
work  was  still  prescribed ;  for  the  sophomore  year,  only 
five  subjects  ;  for  the  junior,  eight ;  and  the  senior,  eight ; 
while  students  of  these  three  years  might,  so  far  as  their 
time  would  allow,  and  the  means  of  such  instruction 
"  were  within  the  resources  of  the  university,"  elect  from  the 
following  subjects  :  mathematics,  chemistry,  Greek,  Latin, 
natural  history,  geology,  geography,  the  use  of  the  globes, 
and  any  modem  language.  It  was  a  large  concession,  and 
had  a  permanent  infiuence  upon  the  course. 

A  condition  of  no  less  interest  was  found  in  the  fact  that 


EECENT  COLLEGES.  193 

certain  studies,  once  altogether  excluded  from  the  course 
were  occasionally  regarded  as  essential  to  a  liberal  disci- 
pline. For  three  years,  under  Prof.  Longfellow,  French 
was  a  required  study  (1839-42),  and  even  natural  history 
was  prescribed  in  1846,  along  with  the  classics,  as  were 
chemistry  and  psychology.  Twenty  years  later  German 
was  required  for  a  time,  of  sophomores,  though  it  was 
elective  for  juniors.  But  there  was  no  system.  The  pub- 
lished electives  one  year  were  required  the  next,  and  might 
become  extras  the  year  following.  There  was  no  settled 
policy,  the  argument  for  change  in  particular  cases  being 
frequently  convenience  or  expediency.  French,  for  ex- 
ample, was  three  times  an  elective  in  forty  years,  twice  pre- 
scribed, and  twice  extra.  Chemistry  was  repeatedly  shifted, 
until  1851,  when  it  became  fixed  as  a  part  of  the  prescribed 
course. 

It  should  be  remembered  that,  during  all  these  years, 
there  was  still  maintained  a  uniform  four  years'  course,  and 
the  extras  and  electives,  for  which  students  were  given  no 
credit  on  the  rank  lists  were  so  much  additional  instruction 
imposed  upon  an  already  burdened  faculty.  Besides,  Presi- 
dents Everett  and  Sparks  were  pronounced  opponents  of  the 
whole  elective  system.  Changes  were  made  slowly  and 
with  little  foresight ;  with  the  administration  of  Dr.  Walker, 
however  (1853),  and  later,  of  President  Felton  and  Dr. 
Thomas  Hill,  the  tendency  was  strengthened  and  the  policy 
became  fairly  established.  With  increased  attendance,  there 
were  larger  resources,  leading  to  an  enlargement  of  the 
faculty,  to  added  electives,  and  more  generous  privileges 
granted  to  students.  Slowly,  sometimes  with  limitations, 
but  on  the  whole  forward,  the  amount  of  prescribed  work 
has  been  reduced,  and  the  proportion  of  options  correspond- 
ingly increased. 

In  the  year  1867  a  committee  of  the  faculty,  of  which 
the  President  (Dr.  Thomas  Hill)  was  chairman,  reported  the 
following  scheme  of  studies,  which  was  adopted. 

It  is  given  in  full,  as  being,  first,  a  step  in  the  develop- 


194  THE  PERIOD  OF  REORGANIZATION. 

ment  of  the  Harvard  instruction  ;  and,  second,  as  an  interest- 
ing attempt  to  distinguish  between  fundamental  and  desir- 
able studies  in  a  liberal  schooling : 

IXahtaiu)  Curriculum  of  186Y. 
Freshman  year  : 

Mathematics,  Latin,  Greek — each  four  hours  a  week  ; 

Greek  history,  French,  ethics — each  two  hours  a  week  ; 

elocution — once  a  week. 
Sophomore  year  : 

Required  Studies.  —  Chemistry,  German  —  each  two 
hours  a  week ;  Roman  history,  psychology  and  rhet- 
oric— two  hours  a  week,  for  half  the  year. 

Elective  Studies. — Latin,  Greek,  mathematics,  pure  and 
applied — each  three  hours  a  week.    Each  student 
required  to  take  two. 
Junior  year  : 

Required  Studies. — Physics — three  hours  a  week;  logic 
and  metaphysics — each  two  hom«  a  week,  for  half 
the  year. 

Elective  Studies. — Latin,  Greek,  ancient  history,  mathe- 
matics, chemistry,  natural  history,  German,  Eng- 
lish— each  three  hours  a  week.  Each  student  must 
take  two,  may  take  three.  Italian  and  Spanish  as 
extras. 
Senior  year  : 

Required  Studies. — Political  economy,  philosophy — 
each  two  hours  a  week,  for  haK  the  year  ;  history — 
three  hours  a  week  ;  ethics — once  a  week  for  half 
the  year. 

Elective  Studies. — Latin,  Greek,  mathematics,  physics, 
chemical  physics,  history,  modem  languages  (for 
advanced  students  only) — each  three  hours  a  week. 
Each  student  must  take  two,  and  may  take  three, 
or  give  the  time  of  three  to  two. 

It  will  be  noticed  that  neither  Greek,  Latin,  nor  mathe- 
matics is  required  after  the  freshman  year ;  but  instead, 


RECEXT  COLLEGES.  195 

philosophy  in  some  form,  psychology  or  etliics.  The  only 
physical  sciences  prescribed  were  physics  and  chemistry  ; 
and  they  were  only  half  studies  in  the  sophomore  and  junior 
years. 

Five  years  later  all  required  studies  had  dropped  from 
the  senior  work  ;  in  1879,  from  the  junior;  and  in  1884,  from 
the  sophomore.  The  only  present  prescribed  work  for  the 
degree  of  Bachelor  of  Arts  is  a  weekly  lecture  for  half  the 
year  in  physics  and  chemistry  each  ;  rhetoric  and  English 
composition,  including  themes,  throughout  the  four  years, 
and  either  German  or  French  in  the  freshman  year.  About 
the  time  of  the  last  regulation,  what  is  of  not  less  impor- 
tance and  not  less  revolutionary,  it  was  granted  that  seniors 
might  take  their  elementa,ry  German  with  juniors — a  step 
toward  the  abolition  of  class  distinctions,  one  of  the  charac- 
teristics of  the  elective  system. 

D.    MICHIGAN    UNIVERSITY. 

In  Michigan  the  first  change  was  made  under  the  ad- 
ministration of  President  Tappan,  in  the  adoption  of, 
and  the  right  of  choice  between,  classical  and  scientific 
courses.  Dr.  Tappan  brought  to  his  new  position  as  first 
president  of  the  first  great  university  of  the  West,  not  only 
ability  and  scholarship,  but  a  large  acquaintance  with  the 
best  contemporary  thought  on  university  training.  More- 
over, he  was  an  enthusiast  in  higher  education,  whose  prob- 
lems and  management  he  had  studied  at  home  and  abroad. 

The  liberal  policy  of  the  State  under  Superintendent 
Pierce  was  accepted  and  enlarged.  The  scientific  course 
was  arranged  to  cover  four  years,  with  students  classed  as  in 
the  usual  course,  but  graduating  as  Bachelors  of  Science. 
These  parallel  courses  did  for  Michigan  what  Harvard  and 
Yale  but  a  few  years  before  had  attempted  to  accomplish  in 
the  establishment  of  separate  scientific  schools.  This  inti- 
mate connection  and  common  dependence  of  all  departments 
in  the  Western  and  newer  institutions  is  by  no  means  the 
smallest  factor  in  their  easier  and  more  rapid  readjustment 


196       THE  PERIOD  OF  REORGANIZATION. 

of  the  curriculum,  and  their  reorganization  of  faculties.  The 
past  is  always  a  teacher ;  to  the  older  colleges  it  has  some- 
times been  a  burden. 

In  addition  to  this  double  course  in  Michigan,  students 
■were  allowed  "to  pursue  special  courses,  and  receive  at  their 
departure  certificates  of  proficiency."  The  sentiment  was 
growing  that  in  some  way  a  college  of  means,  and  the  appli- 
ances of  highest  culture  available,  should  minister  also  to 
the  more  popular  demand  for  a  share  in  the  learning  and 
the  privileges  once  accorded  to  the  few ;  that,  in  a  word,  as 
Prof.  Ticknor  said,  fifty  years  in  advance  of  his  surrotmd- 
ings,  "it  should  extend  effectual  instruction  to  portions  of 
society  that  now  never  resort  to  it."  The  sentiment,  whether 
well  or  ill  foxinded,  as  respects  the  true  university,  had  be- 
come, by  the  war  decade,  a  mastering  force,  reshaping  the 
control  and  enlarging  the  functions  of  college  and  school, 
setting  new  limits  to  instruction,  and  giving  direction  to  new 
interests. 

£.    CORNELL    CNITERSITT. 

Cornell  opened  in  1868,  dominated  by  this  idea,  that  while 
providing  opportunities  for  the  highest  learning,  it  should  be 
a  place  the  farthest  removed  from  all  exclusiveness ;  a  place 
"where  any  person  may  find  instruction  in  any  subject." 
Though  throwing  out  inducements  to  higher  special  studies, 
its  doors  should  be  closed  to  no  one  seeking  even  its  tem- 
porary privileges.  The  institution  was  organized  with  five 
collegiate  courses,  of  equal  rank  and  scope ;  fifteen  special 
courses,  seven  of  which,  chiefly  science,  led  to  no  degree ;  and 
nine  graduate  courses.  Of  the  first  there  were  offered — 1. 
A  course  in  literature,  with  Latin  but  no  Greek  (B.  L.). 
2.  A  course  in  philosophy,  also  requiring  Latin  but  no 
Greek  (Ph.  B.).  3.  A  course  in  science,  including  neither 
Latin  nor  Greek  (B.  S.).  4.  A  course  in  science  and  liter- 
ature, with  neither  Latin  nor  Greek  (B.  S.).  5.  A  course 
in  arts,  the  common  academic  course  (B.  A.).  The  fifteen 
special  courses  have  been  changed  to  twelve,  and  the  nine 
graduate  courses  expanded    to  seventeen.     Including  the 


RECENT  COLLEGES.  197 

medical  preparatory,  then,  Cornell  ofPers  thirty  optional 
courees,  and  confers  nine  different  degrees.  Liberty  in  the 
choice  of  studies  is  regarded  as  f  vmdamental. 

F.  COLUMBIA    COLLEGE. 

Columbia  as  early  as  1830  provided  and  for  seven  years 
maintained  two  courses  of  study ;  in  1857  made  German  vol- 
Tintary,  and  a  few  years  later  allowed  seniors  a  choice  be- 
tween the  classics  and  higher  mathematics.  Since  1880, 
except  two  hours  per  week  of  modern  languages  required  of 
freshmen  and  sophomores;  history,  English,  and  Anglo- 
Saxon  of  juniors ;  and  English  and  Anglo-Saxon  of  seniors, 
all  the  studies  are  elective.  Three  degrees  are  conferred, 
Bachelor  of  Letters,  Bachelor  of  Science,  and  Bachelor  of 
Arts,  according  to  the  predominant  character  of  the  studies. 

G.  YALE    UNIVERSITY. 

Even  Yale,  which  has  been  generally  and  very  properly 
regarded  as  the  conservator  of  the  principle  of  authority  in 
college  instruction,  has  granted  large  liberty  in  a  quarter  of 
a  century.  The  institution  was  prosperous,  new  subjects 
were  yearly  added  to  the  curriculum,  and  the  number  of 
departments  increased.  Within  fifteen  years  from  the  elec- 
tion of  President  Woolsey  (1846),  six  new  chairs  had  been 
added  to  the  faculty,  and  eight  new  subjects  to  the  course. 
The  two  professorships  in  chemistry  soon  grew  into  the 
"  Department  of  Philosophy  and  Art,"  in  which  chairs  were 
instituted  in  metallurgy,  industrial  mechanics  and  physics, 
physical  and  political  geography,  agriculture,  botany  and 
zoology.  The  section  came  to  be  known  as  the  Sheffield 
Scientific  School,  and  before  1870  had  already  developed  into 
seven  full  courses,  besides  certain  "  select  studies,"  prepara- 
tory to  minor  pursuits,  business,  etc. 

Along  with  this  extension  and  enrichment  of  the  course, 
had  been  necessarily  exercised  the  principle  of  selection. 
From  such  a  wealth  of  subjects,  not  all  could  be  taken  by 
each.     What  should  be  omitted?     Clearly  the  individual 


198  THE  PERIOD  OF  REORGANIZATION. 

preference  must  be  a  factor.  For  some  years,  therefore,  as 
early  as  President  Woolsey's  administration  (1846-1871),  the 
elective  system  had  obtained,  in  a  guarded  way,  in  the  later 
yeai-s  of  the  course.  In  1868  Bancroft's  "History  of  the 
United  States  "  was  elective ;  while  in  the  next  decade  options 
in  the  modem  lan^ages  were  greatly  increased,  as  also  in 
natural  science.  Some  choice,  too,  was  admitted  in  entrance 
examinations.  Toward  the  close  of  President  Woolsey's 
administration,  and  in  the  ten  years  following,  so  rapidly 
had  the  course  enlarged,  and  so  numerous  were  the  conces- 
sions, that  "  nearly  one  half  the  work  of  the  last  two  years," 
says  Prof.  Dexter,  "  was  left  to  be  determined  by  each  stu- 
dent for  himself."  At  present  juniors  elect  about  sixty  per 
cent  of  their  work,  and  seniors  more  than  eighty  per  cent. 

From  the  standpoint  of  the  ancient,  or  even  of  a  scholar  of 
the  Revolutionary  period,  the  change  would  seem  to  be  ruin- 
ous. And  yet,  in  the  most  pronounced  departure  of  reputa- 
ble institutions,  there  has  been  no  revolution,  no  disorgani- 
zation. The  transition  is  a  hazardous  one,  and  has  need  of 
calm  judgment  and  wise  foresight.  But  no  one  longer 
denies  either  the  necessity  or  the  wisdom  of  the  elective 
principle.  "  To  permit  choice,"  says  Prof.  Palmer,  "  is  dan- 
gerous; not  to  permit  it  is  more  dangerous."  Only  so  can 
superficiality,  on  the  one  side,  be  avoided,  or,  on  the  other, 
cramping  of  minds.  Yale  offers  ninety-one  courses;  the 
Universities  of  Kansas,  Indiana,  and  California,  more  than 
one  hundred  each ;  Harvard  two  hundred,  and  Michigan  two 
hundred  and  sixty-nine.  Cornell,  Columbia,  Wisconsin, 
Illinois,  and  Pennsylvania  Universities  offer  long  lists  of 
subjects.  And  yet,  with  no  greatly  heterogeneous  conditions, 
there  is  no  common  ground  of  agreement,  or  control  at  least, 
among  college  authorities,  as  to  this  question.  Harvard  and 
Columbia  make  the  whole  course  practically  elective,  and 
the  University  of  Kansas  largely  so,  after  the  freshman  year. 
In  the  University  of  Texas  it  is  one  half  elective  from  the 
first.     The  University  of  Minnesota,  Dartmouth,  and  Prince- 


RECENT  COLLEGES.  199 

ton,  average  about  one  half  elective  after  the  sophomore  year. 
To  this  the  Universities  of  California,  Brown,  and  Bowdoin, 
add  as  elective  one  fourth  of  the  sophomore  work.  In  Will- 
iams College  the  electives  constitute  from  one  half  to  three 
fourths  of  the  work  of  the  last  two  years,  and  in  Amherst 
almost  four  fifths  of  the  work  from  the  middle  of  the  sopho- 
more. In  Swarthmore,  but  about  one  fifth  of  the  course  is 
elective  after  the  freshman  year;  and  in  Boston  University, 
the  order  of  subjects  only.  With  a  few  institutions  the 
choice  is  between  courses  alone ;  as  in  Lehigh  University,  the 
University  of  Georgia,  and  the  Tulane  University,  in  the  last 
of  which  there  are  six  courses,  two  including  something  of 
the  classics,  but  each  leading  to  the  degree  B.  A. 

H.    THE   GROUP   SYSTEM   OF   STUDIES. 

In  the  attempt  of  educators  to  give  a  rational  answer  to 
the  question  how  the  elective  principle  may  be  applied  to 
university  work,  without  doing  violence  to  the  demands  of 
liberal  culture,  the  "group  system"  is  historically  signifi- 
cant. This  assumes  that  there  are  certain  studies  which 
must  be  held  indispensable  to  a  liberal  education.  These 
form  the  groundwork  of  all  the  courses,  whose  additional 
branches  give  specific  character  to  each.  The  Johns  Hop- 
kins University  (opened  1876)  is  a  representative  of  this  class 
of  institutions.  The  "essential  studies"  are  logic,  ethics, 
psychology,  German,  French,  English,  science  (chemistry, 
physics,  or  biology),  physical  geography,  and  history  (Greek 
and  Roman,  or  modern  European).  Upon  this  foundation 
seven  groups  of  studies  are  constituted,  called  respectively : 
1.  Classical.  2.  Mathematical-physical.  3.  Chemical-biologi- 
cal. 4.  Physical-chemical.  5.  Latin-mathematical.  6.  His- 
torical-political. 7.  Modern  languages.  The  several  courses 
lead  equally  to  the  degree  of  Bachelor  of  Arts.  Just  here> 
institutions  which  insist  upon  a  more  or  less  close  following 
of  the  traditional  course  (mathematics,  philosophy,  and  the 
classics),  as  entitling  the  graduate  to  the  degree  B.  A.,  would 
break  with  the  Johns  Hopkins  control  in  the  plan  proposed. 


200  THE  PERIOD  OF  REORGANIZATION. 

The  question  is  not,  they  say :  Shall  a  degree  be  given  where 
the  classics  have  been  omitted  ?  but:  Shall  the  B.  A.  be  con- 
ferred without  them  ?  Johns  Hopkins,  in  Groups  II,  III,  IV, 
and  VI,  says  Yes. 

The  curriculum  of  the  recently  founded  college  for 
women,  Bryn  Mawr,  near  Philadelphia,  is  the  group  system, 
as  are  those  of  Indiana  University,  Washington  and  Lee, 
and  Tulane  Universities,  substantially.  Graduate  work  for 
advanced  degrees  in  the  University  of  California,  and  a  few 
others,  is  also  set  off  into  groups  upon  the  same  principle. 

6.  Graduate  Courses. 

As  an  outgrowth  of  the  larger  personal  interest,  and  the 
less  insistence  upon  a  uniform  curriculum,  certain  colleges 
have  developed  an  amount  of  advanced  and  original  work 
in  various  lines  hinting  at  a  true  university  spirit. 

The  admission  of  unmatriculated  students  to  select 
courses,  or  to  lectures  in  particular  lines  only,  has  thrown 
open  the  majority  of  higher  institutions  to  a  larger  general 
and  popular  patronage.  For  the  academic  year  1885-'86, 
out  of  a  total  of  three  hundred  and  forty-six  institutions, 
one  hundred  and  fifty-four  reported  four  thousand  six  hun- 
dred and  five  *  students  pursuing  these  special  courses.  These 
are  frequently  undergraduates,  studying  for  no  degree,  and 
represent  more  or  less  incomplete  and  desultory  work.  That 
this  is  not  an  unmixed  evil  might  be  shown ;  but  among  the 
special  students  are  some  who  have  already  taken  their  first 
degrees,  and  whose  work  is  therefore  advanced,  and  special 
only  in  the  sense  of  looking  to  mastery  in  particular  fields  of 
learning.  Historically,  in  this  country,  graduate  study  was 
sequent  to  elective  courses.  Both  were  phases  of  the  same 
general  impulse  to  adapt  the  instruction  of  the  college,  by 
selection  within,  or  by  extension  beyond  the  course,  to  pro- 
nounced tastes  and  individual  wants.  It  is  not  meant  by 
this  that  there  were  not  instances  of  prolonged  and  special 

•  Nearly  ten  -per  cent  of  the  total  attendance  (48,485). 


RECENT  COLLEGES.  .  201 

disciplines  under  the  former  system ;  but  they  were  rather  in- 
dividual than  X)art  of  the  plan,  though  frequent  and  worthy. 

As  early  as  1832  Harvard  had  provided  for  additional 
instruction  in  the  modern  languages  and  philology,  and 
Yale  ten  years  later  in  Arabic  and  Sanskrit,  as  also  occasion- 
al terms  in  chemistry  under  Prof.  Silliman.  General  phi- 
losophy soon  followed  in  offering  graduate  instruction. 
Early  in  President  Tappan's  administration,  the  University 
of  Michigan  outlined  a  "  university  course,"  *  in  which  lect- 
ures were  given  in  most  of  the  departments,  and  which 
were  open  to  such  students  only  as  had  already  obtained 
the  degree  of  Bachelor  of  Science  or  of  Arts.  Such  student, 
by  pursuing  two  courses  during  each  semester  of  one  year, 
sustaining  an  examination  upon  three  of  the  coxirses,  and 
presenting  a  satisfactory  thesis,  was  given  the  degree  of 
"  Master  of  Arts  or  of  Science." 

Columbia  College  also,  about  1840,  opened  a  "  post-gradu- 
ate" course,  in  which  Prof.  Arnold  Guyot  delivered  his 
celebrated  lectures  on  "  Comparative  Physical  Geography, 
in  Relation  to  History  and  Modern  Civilization  " ;  and  Mr. 
George  P.  Marsh  a  course  upon  the  English  language,  f 
These  were  not  continued  after  the  one  year,  though  re- 
appearing in  the  broadly  elective  system  and  formal  pro- 
vision for  graduate  instruction  in  1880. 

Reference  has  already  been  made  to  the  nine  graduate 
courses  of  Cornell,  established  at  its  opening,  and  the  nine- 
teen at  Johns  Hopkins,  seven  years  later. 

The  graduate  department  at  Harvard  was  instituted  in 
1872.  Upon  the  extension  of  the  elective  principle  in  1882, 
the  lines  of  class  distinction  were  obliterated,  and  all  courses 
thrown  open  alike  to  graduate  and  undergraduate — ad- 
vanced courses  in  mathematics,  physics,  chemistry,  philoso- 
phy, and  classical  philology  being  most  frequently  pursued 
for  higher  degrees. 

*  "  Farrand's  History  of  the  University  of  Michigan,"  p.  113. 
t  "  Historical  Sketch  of  Columbia  CoUege,"  1884. 


202  T^E  PERIOD  OF  REORGAXIZATION. 

Altogether,  eighty-three  institutions  in  the  United  States, 
having  advanced  courses,  report  eight  hundred  and  eighty 
graduate  students.  In  Princeton  tlie  class  forms  seventeen 
per  cent  of  the  entire  enrollment ;  in  Columbia,  four  per 
cent ;  Harvard,  seven  per  cent ;  Cornell,  five  per  cent ;  Uni- 
versity of  Notre  Dame,  Indiana,  fourteen  per  cent ;  South 
Carolina  College,  ten  per  cent ;  and  Johns  Hopkins  Univer- 
sity, an  average  of  sixty  per  cent  for  twelve  years. 

B.  University  Organization. 

In  a  recent  characterization  of  the  American  university, 
Dr.  Gilman  notes  *  four  types  as  determined  by  their  foun- 
dations. These  he  denominates  :  1.  The  College  University; 
2.  The  State  University  ;  3.  The  privately  endowed  Univer- 
sity ;  4.  The  Supervisory  University. 

The  first  has  already  been  described  in  the  sketch  of 
the  colonial  and  Revolutionary  colleges.  Their  object  was 
a  rich  and  severe  culture,  classical  in  scope,  and  religious  in 
aim.  Except  for  the  theological  bias,  they  betrayed  no  im- 
pulse toward  specialization.  They  were  academic  institu- 
tions, collegiate  in  method,  and  universities  only  in  potentia. 
In  general  the  first  American  schools  were  of  this  type,  in- 
cluding all  the  colonial  colleges,  except  perhaps  the  Univer- 
sity of  Pennsyvania,  which  was  a  State  institution.  William 
and  Mary  College,  Virginia,  and  Columbia  College,  New 
York,  were  established  under  the  support  and  protection  of 
royal  charters,  but  were  in  all  other  respects  of  the  "  college 
university  "  type. 

The  fourth  class  has,  in  this  country,  but  one  represent- 
ative, the  University  of  the  State  of  New  York,  It  is  an 
organization  including  all  the  incorporated  colleges  and 
academies  of  the  State,  and  certain  academical  departments 
of  the  public  schools.  The  governing  body  is  vested  in  a 
board  whose  corporate  title  is  "  The  Regents  of  the  Univer- 

*  "  Cyclopoedia  of  Political  Science,"  article  "Universities." 


RECExVT  COLLEGES.  203 

sity  of  the  State  of  New  York,"  and  whose  functions  include 
general  control  and  inspection,  but  not  instruction. 

Looked  at  from  the  present  century,  then — that  is,  de- 
scriptively and  not  historically — the  second  and  third  classes 
only  remain.  To  these  should  be  added  the  purely  denomi- 
national institutions,  to  which  class  belong  about  seventy- 
five  per  cent  of  the  colleges  of  the  country. 

1.  State-established  Colleges. 

The  State  univei-sity  had  its  inception  within,  and  its  con- 
trol more  or  less  determined  by,  the  civil  authorities,  and  the 
foundation  of  its  support  in  the  public  revenue,  either  na- 
tional or  local,  or  both.  Its  instruction  is  non-sectarian  and 
free,  or  with  nominal  tuition  only.  As  a  State  agency,  its 
principal  object  is  general  training.  It  belongs  practically 
to  the  present  century,  only  foxir  institutions  antedating  1800. 
These  were  the  college  in  Philadelphia,  which  at  the  close 
of  the  Revolutionary  war  became  merged  in  the  University 
of  Pennsylvania;  the  University  of  North  Carolina,  1789; 
University  of  Vermont,  1791 ;  and  the  University  of  Tennes- 
see, 1794.     The  last  received  national  as  well  as  State  aid. 

From  this  time,  excepting  the  Universities  of  Georgia  and 
South  Carolina,  both  established  in  1801,  and  Ohio,  in  1804, 
no  other  State  iastitutions  were  founded  for  a  generation. 
The  Ohio  University  *  was  the  first  in  the  Northwest,  and 
was  established  on  a  grant  of  the  Ohio  purchase.  After 
Virginia  (1825)  came  Indiana  in  1828,  Alabama  in  1831,  and 
others  in  rapid  succession,  so  that  by  the  middle  of  the  cent- 
ury seventeen  of  the  twenty-four  States  then  existing  had 
made  public  provision  for  university  training.  There  are 
now  thirty  State  universities.  Of  the  thirteen  original  States, 
six  only  have  such  provision. 

*  Dr.  Manassah  Cutler,  who  was  the  author  of  the  public  policy  of  re- 
serving Government  lands  for  the  support  of  education,  also  drew  the  arti- 
cles of  incorporation,  arranged  the  course  of  study,  and  selected  the  teachers 
for  the  Ohio  University. 


204 


THE  PERIOD  OF  REORGANIZATION. 


The  table  shows  not  only  the  State  institutions,  but  the 
time  and  order  of  their  founding: 

State-established  CoUeges. 

States.  Date. 

Kentucky 1858 

Kansas 1861 

West  Virginia 1867 

Illinois 1868 

Arkansas 1868 

Minnesota 1868 

California 1869 

Nebraska. 1869 

Nevada 1874 

Colorado 1875 

Oregon 1876 

Texas 1881 

Florida. 1883 


States.  Date. 

Pennsylvania 1755 

North  Carolina 1789 

Vermont 1791 

Tennessee 1794 

Georgia 1801 

South  Carolina 1801 

Ohio 1804 

Virginia 1825 

Indiana 1828 

Alabama 1831 

Delaware 1833 

Michigan 1837 

Missouri 1839 

Iowa 1847 

Mississippi 1848 

Wisconsin 1848 

Louisiana 1853 


Washington  Territory 1861 

Dakota  "        ....     1888 

Montana  "        ....     1834 


2.  Privately  Endowed  Institutions. 

These  i)erpetuate  the  name  of  the  donor,  and  compidse 
some  of  the  best-equipped  and  most  efficient  institutions; 
but,  far  more  and  better,  they  point  to  a  wide-spread  individ- 
ual interest  in  the  highest  education.  Bishop  Fraser,  twenty 
years  ago,  condemned  unsparingly  the  needless  multiplica- 
tion of  universities  in  this  country,  but  commended  as 
warmly  the  instances  and  the  spirit  of  "  individual  munifi- 
cence so  common  in  America,  so  rare  in  England,  as  among 
the  not  unhealthy  signs  of  the  times." 

The  institutions  of  this  class  are  far  too  numerous  for 
more  than  representative  mention.  They  are  among  the 
wealthiest,  and,  in  larger  or  smaller  gifts,  include  more  than 
three  hundred  of  the  colleges.  Among  those  founded  by 
private  means  are  Cornell  University,  Johns  Hopkins,  Le- 
high, Wellesley,  Tulane,  Vanderbilt,  Bryn  Mawr,  Boston 
University,  Leland  Stanford,  Jr.,  University  (California), 


RECENT  COLLEGES. 


205 


Vassar  College,  and  the  Clark  University  (Worcester,  Massa- 
chusetts)— ten  institutions,  not  to  name  others,  representing 
a  productive  endowment,  exclusive  of  buildings  and  other 
properties,  of  twenty-five  million  dollars. 

But,  besides  the  privately  fovinded  and  endowed  institu- 
tions, some  of  the  State  schools  and  most  of  the  denomina- 
tional are  more  or  less  dependent  for  their  endowments  and 
after-prosperity  upon  private  means.  Of  this  class  are  Har- 
vard, Yale,  Princeton,  Brown,  Dartmouth,  the  Northwestern 
(at  Chicago),  De  Pauw  University  (Indiana),  Amherst,  etc., 
representing  more  than  ten  million  dollars,  most  of  which 
has  come  from  private  beneficence. 

Naturally  the  aggregate  of  such  benefactions  can  only  be 
approximately  estimated.  The  following  table,  made  from 
information  collected  chiefly  from  the  reports  of  the  United 
States  Commissioner  of  Education,  and  excluding  gifts  for 
secondary  or  professional  schools,  may  be  taken  as  fairly 
representing  the  annual  and  aggregate  amounts  contributed 
to  colleges  and  universities  alone,  in  the  years  for  which  re- 
ports are  had  since  1871 : 


Private  Endowment 

of  Colleges 

by  Years. 

Total  en- 

To colleges 

Total  en- 

To colleges 

dowments. 

for  women. 

dowments. 

for  women. 

1872 

$6,282,461 

1689,993 

1881 

$4,601,069 

$214,529 

1873 

8,238,141 

242,295 

1882 

1874 

1,845,354 

26,035 

1883 

8,522,407 

81,604 

1875 

2,703,650 

1884 

5,688,043 

310,506 

1876 

1885..   .. 

5,134,460 

322,813 

1877 

1,273,991 

79,128 

1886 

2,530,948 

266,285 

1878 

1,38«,633 

241,820 

1887 

1879 

3,878,648 

62,815 

1880 

2,666,571 

399,987 

$49,755,436 

$2,937,810 

Supplementary  to  the  table  just  given  is  the  following, 
showing  a  few  of  the  large  benefactions  and  their  recipients. 
But  it  should  not  be  forgotten  that  beyond  the  forty  millions 
which  these  few  names  represent,  the  most  hopeful  mark  of 
educational  vigor  is  the  large  number  of  relatively  small  gifts 
14 


206       THE  PERIOD  OF  REORGANIZATION. 

from  hundreds  of  donors.  This,  too,  it  has  been  already  said, 
includes  only  the  moneys  for  colleges  and  universities,  ex- 
cluding secondary  schools,  medical  and  theological  schools, 
special  large  benefactions  to  the  South,  etc. : 

TcAle  of  Benefacliojis* 

1.  Asa  Packer Lehigh  University,  Pa $3,500,000 

2.  Johns  Hopkins  ....  Johns  Hopkins  University,  Md 8,500,000 

3.  Isaac  Rich Boston  University,  Mass 2,000,000 

4.  Leonard  Case School  of  Applied  Science,  Ohio 1,200,000 

5.  James  Lick University  of  California 1,650,000 

6.  Peter  Cooper Cooper  Union,  N.  Y 1,200,000 

7.  Ezra  Cornell Cornell  University,  N.  Y 1,000,000 

8.  The  Vanderbilts. . .  Vanderbilt  University,  Tenn 1,775,000 

9.  Paul  Tulane Tulane  University,  La. 2,500,000 

10.  W.  C.  Be  Pauw . .  .De  Pauw  Dniversity,  Ind 1,500,000 

11.  Leland  Stanford  . .  .Leland  Stanford,  Jr.,  University,  Cal.. .  6,000,000 

12.  S.  W.  Phoenix Columbia  College,  N.  Y 650,000 

13.  Amasa  Stone Adelbert  College,  Ohio 600,000 

14.  John  C.  Green Princeton  College,  N.  J 1,500,000 

15.  Mathew  Vassar Vassar  College,  N.  Y 908,000 

16.  George  I.  Seney Wesleyan  University,  Conn 700,000 

17.  Ario  Pardee Lafayette  College,  Pa 500,000 

1 8.  Benjamin  Bussey  . .  Harvard  College,  Mass 500,000 

19.  Joseph  W.  Taylor  .  Bryn  Mawr  College,  Pa 450,000 

20.  Joseph  ShefBeld  ...  Yale  College,  Conn 500,000 

21 .  Henry  W.  Sage ....  Cornell  University,  N.  Y 342,000 

22.  E.  P.  Greenleaf Harvard  University 630,000 

23.  J.  P.  Jones Haverford  College 500,000 

24.  Stephen  Girard Girard  College,  Pa 8,000,000 

25.  Jonas  G.  Clark Ckrk  University,  Mass 2,000,000 

Without  elaborating,  it  may  be  noted  that  there  is  an 
evident  tendency,  both  in  the  older  institutions  and  the  later 
founded,  toward  non-sectarian  education ;  this,  in  face  of  the 
fact  that  two  hundred  and  fifty-nine  of  the  three  hundred 
and  forty-six  colleges  are  denominational,  and  that  four 
fifths  of  those  founded  since  1850  are  more  or  less  under  the 
control  of  church  organizations.     Within  the  last  twenty 

*  Of  course  many  millions  have  been  given  for  secondary  education  also, 
attention  being  called  here  to  superior  in.stitutions  only. 


RECENT  COLLEGES. 


207 


years,  church  enterprise  has  been  especially  active  in  the  in- 
troduction of  higher  education  into  parts  of  the  West,  and  into 
the  reconstructing  States  of  the  South;  nearly  three  fourths 
of  the  denominational  colleges  founded  in  the  period,  being 
in  the  South,  and  in  the  States  bordering  upon  the  Missis- 
sijjpi  River.  Beside  this  is  put  the  fact  that,  while  seven  of 
the  thirteen  original  States  have  no  State-maintained  col- 
leges, every  State  admitted  since  1790  has  assumed  the  re- 
sponsibility of  providing  collegiate  training  along  with  ele- 
mentary. 

Out  of  a  total  attendance  of  less  than  fifty  thousand  in 
superior  institutions,  those  supported  by  the  State  enroll 
about  ten  thousand  ;  or  eight  per  cent  of  the  institutions 
(State)  instruct  twenty  per  cent  of  the  students.  In  West 
Virginia  the  proportion  is  sixty  per  cent,  Colorado  twenty- 
nine  per  cent,  Michigan  twenty -five  per  cent,  Nebraska 
twenty-two  per  cent. 

The  table  appended  exhibits  the  relative  endowments  of 
representative  institutions  of  the  three  classes,  private,  eccle- 
siastical, and  State  foundations.  There  are  a  few  State  in- 
stitutions that  rank  well  with  the  majority  of  those  from 
other  classes — a  fact  which  will  appear  more  to  their  credit 
when  the  comparatively  recent  foundation  of  most  of  the 
former  is  noted : 

Table  of  Uhiversiti/  Endowments. 


INSTITUTIONS. 

Property. 

Endowment. 

Total. 

Ecclesiastical  Institiitiotis  : 
Harvard 

$5,190,772 
657,680 
1,400,000 
812,000 
667,000 
767,000 
700,000 
650,000 
277,000 
550,000 

$5,190,772 
1,167,280 
2  150  000 

Yale 

509,600 
750,000 
1,615,000 
509,000 
600,000 
200,000 
600,000 
400,000 
200,000 

Princeton 

Nortliwestem  University 

Wesleyan  (Connecticut) 

Brown  University 

2^427^000 

1,176,000 

1,367,000 

900,000 

Tufts 

Amherst 

1,150,000 
677,000 
750,000 

Hamilton 

Madison 

$5,283,600 

$11,671,452 

$16,955,052 

208 


THE  PERIOD  OF  REORGANIZATION. 


INSTITUTIONS. 


State  Institutions  : 

Michigan 

Minnesota 

Wisconsin 

Virginia 

California 

Missouri 

Ohio , 

Texas 

Illinois 

Pennsjivania.... 


Privaiflu  Endowed  LutUtttions: 
Cornell 


Boston 

Tulane 

Vanderbilt 

Bryn  Mawr  , . . . 

Wellesley 

Vassar 

Johns  Hopkins . 

De  Pauw 

Lehigh 


Grand  totals. 


Property. 

Endowment. 

Total. 

$1,333,000 

$981,000 

$2,314,000 

650,000 

800,000 

1,450,000 

790,000 

800,000 

1,590,000 

1,370,000 

672,000 

2,042,000 

1,000,000 

1,680,000 

2,680,000 

1,050,000 

582,000 

1,632,000 

600,000 

540,000 

1,140,000 

482,000 

860,000 

1,342,000 

4.50,000 

400,000 

850,000 

1,560,000 

1,100,000 

2,650,000 

$9,275,000 

$8,415,000 

$17,690,0C0 

$1,300,000 

$5,000,000 

$6,800,000 
1,200,000 

225,000 

1,038,657 

1,264,000 

500,000 

900,000 

1,400,000 

850,000 

750,000 

1,100,000 

2,000,000 

225,000 

2,225,000 

723,000 

444,000 

1,167,000 

650,000 

8,000,000 

8,650,000 

250,000 

800,000 

650,000 

1,000,000 

2,000,000 

3,000,000 

$6,998,000 

$13,658,000 

$21,856,000 

$21,557,000 

$33,744,000 

$56,601,000 

Bibliography. 

The  current  literature  on  this  section  is  very  extensive,  and  the  fol- 
lowing selections  are  made  more  because  they  are  generally  available, 
than  that  others  are  inferior.  In  general,  consult :  "  The  College  of  To- 
day," by  R.  R.  Bowker,  "Princeton  Review,"  1884,  p.  89;  "Our  Col- 
leges before  the  Country,"  by  W.  G.  Sumner,  "Princeton  Review,"  1884, 
p.  127  ;  "Aspects  of  College  Training,"  D.  C.  Gilman,  "North  American 
Review,"  1883;  "The  True  Ideal  of  an  American  University,"  J. 
Dwight,  1871;  "^Vhat  an  American  University  should  be,"  James  Mc- 
Cosh,  "  Education,"  vol.  vi,  p.  35 ;  the  "  University  of  the  Future,"  Hiram 
Corson,  1875.  Also,  "Student  Freedom  in  Colleges,"  Presidents  Eliot 
and  McCosh,  before  the  Nineteenth  Century  Club,  New  York,  February, 
1885,  and  the  discussion  of  this  by  Dr.  F.  Patton,  "  Presbyterian  Review," 
April,  1885 ;  the  "Elective  System  in  Harvard  College,"  Samuel  Brearly, 
1886;  "Electives,"  "Education,"  vol.  v,  p.  473;  "Elective  System  in 
Education,"  "  Our  Continent,"  February  22,  1882 ;  the  "  Early  History 


THE  PROFESSIONS.  209 

of  the  University  of  Virginia,"  Jefferson  and  Cabell,  1860;  "Academic 
Freedom  in  Germany,"  H.  W.  Famam,  "  Yale  Review,"  January,  1881 ; 
Discussion  of  President  Eliot's  "  Annual  Report "  for  1884-'85,  in  "New 
York  Independent,"  May  6  and  13, 1886 ;  "Should  Colleges  give  the  B.  A. 
where  Greek  is  omitted  ?  "  "  New  York  University  Convocation,"  1886, 
p.  105  ;  "  Post-Graduate  Degrees,"  "  Proceedings  of  the  University  Con- 
vocation," 1884,  p.  251;  the  "Place  of  Original  Research  in  College 
Education,"  J.  H.  Wright,  "  Proceedings  of  the  National  Educational 
Association,"  1882  (includes  an  exposition  of  the  German  seminary  idea) ; 
"Original  Research  as  a  Means  of  Education,"  H.  E.  Roscoe,  1884; 
"  Handbook  of  Requirements  for  admission  to  American  Colleges,"  A.  F. 
Nightingale,  1879 ;  the  "  Question  of  a  Division  of  the  Philosophical 
Faculty,"  A.  W.  Hoffman,  1882  ;  the  "  Organization  of  University  Edu- 
cation," in  Conference  on  Education  ("  International  Health  Exhibition 
Literature,"  vol.  xv.);  "  University  Corporations,"  J.  L.  Diman,  1882; 
"  College  Endowments,"  Rossiter  Johnson,  "  North  American  Review," 
May,  1883. 


CHAPTER  XII. 

THE  PROFESSIONS. 

Next  to  the  universities,  both  ia  time  and  in  importance, 
are  those  institutions  providing  for  what  are  known  as  the 
learned  professions — theology,  law,  and  medicine.  Among 
every  civilized  people  these  professions  have  been  recognized 
as  the  conservators  of  learning,  and  the  most  efficient  connect- 
ing links  between  school  and  life.  Whatever  their  limita- 
tions, their  dogmatism  and  i)edantry  and  quackery,  they  have 
been  from  early  history  the  best  representatives  in  society 
of  the  culture  of  the  university.  Until  recent  years,  for 
them  were  taught  science,  history,  and  philosophy.  Their 
attitude  has  determined  courses  of  study,  and  fields  of  inves- 
tigation, and  schools  of  literature,  historical  interpretations 
and  standards  of  culture.  That  they  have  lost  much  of  this 
almost  absolute  control  over  the  means  and  standards  of 
general  culture,  neither  detracts  from  their  historical  signifi- 


210       THE  PERIOD  OF  REORGANIZATION. 

cance,  nor  depreciates  their  present  eminent  social  import- 
ance, or  their  contributions  to  the  general  welfare. 

1.  Theological  Education. 

From  the  nature  of  American  institutions,  theological  edu- 
cation, of  course,  has  no  organic  connection  with  the  general 
system.  No  State  institution  supports  such  a  department; 
though  Straight  University,  Louisiana  (founded  by  the  Con- 
gregationalists),  Livingstone  College,  North  Carolina  (of  the 
African  Methodist  Episcopal  Zion's  Church),  Howard  Uni- 
versity, District  of  Columbia,  Harvard,  and  Yale,  all  claiming 
to  be  non-sectarian,  maintain  theological  courses.  With 
these  exceptions  the  current  education  of  the  profession  is 
denominational,  though  variously  libera]  as  to  sectarianism. 

The  Roman  Catholic  Theological  Seminary  of  St.  Sul- 
pice  and  St.  Mary's  University,  Baltimore  (1791)  has  been 
claimed  as  the  oldest  institution  of  the  kind  in  the  United 
States,  though  it  seems  that  the  Reformed  (Dutch)  Church 
had  established  one  at  New  Brunswick,  New  Jersey,  seven 
years  before.  The  only  other  school  of  the  kind  belonging 
to  the  last  century  is  the  United  Presbyterian  Theological 
Seminary  of  Xenia,  Ohio,  founded  in  1794. 

Among  the  colleges,  Harvard  was  first  to  establish  a 
separate  department  of  theology  (1817),  Yale  following  after 
ten  years.  The  instruction  in  both  of  them,  as  well  as  in 
William  and  Mary  College,  had  been  given  since  their  foun- 
dation with  more  or  less  of  ecclesiastical  bias.  In  Yale  it  is 
said,  under  Dr.  Dwight  (1795-1817),  students  received  in  the 
Sunday  sermons  a  somewhat  complete  course  in  divinity ; 
so  tliat  graduates  frequently  went  at  once  into  the  pulpit 
without  further  special  studies. 

Even  before  this  the  Moravians  had  opened  a  seminary 
at  Bethlehem,  Pennsylvania  (1807) ;  the  Congregationalists, 
at  Andover  (1808),  and  Bangor,  Maine  (1816) ;  the  Presbyte- 
rians, at  Princeton  (1812)  ;  and  the  Lutherans,  Hartwick 
Seminary,  New  York  (1815).  Besides  those  named,  there 
were  established  twenty-eight  schools  before  the  middle  of 


THE  PROFESSIONS.  211 

the  century.  In  less  than  forty  years  since,  more  than 
one  hundred  seminaries  have  started.  These  one  hundred 
and  forty-two  institutions,  representing  twenty-seven  de- 
nominations, are  found  in  twenty-eight  States,  the  District 
of  Columbia,  and  Indian  Territory  (this  last  is  a  Baptist  Sem- 
inary, maintained  by  the  Indians  themselves,  having  six  in 
the  faculty,  and  seventy  students).  The  Jews  support  one — 
the  Hebrew  Union  College — at  Cincinnati.  Ten  States — Ar- 
kansas, Delaware,  Florida,  EZansas,  Nevada,  New  Hampshire, 
Rhode  Island,  Vermont,  and  West  Virginia — report  none. 

The  total  number  of  students  in  these  seminaries  is  six 
thousand  five  hundred,  less  than  one  fourth  of  whom  are 
graduates  with  literary  or  scientific  degrees;  fifteen  years 
ago  the  proportion  was  nearly  one  third.  In  the  seminaries 
of  four  States — New  York,  Pennsylvania,  Massachusetts,  and 
Connecticut — at  present  the  percentage  of  college-bred  stu- 
dents is  about  forty-two ;  fifteen  years  ago  it  was  fifty-five 
per  cent.  In  some  sections  the  standard  of  required  entrance 
scholarship  is  very  low.  In  one  State,  with  two  hundred  and 
thirty  theological  students,  but  five  had  taken  degrees ;  and 
less  than  half  of  them  had  more  than  a  high-school  training. 
In  another,  among  one  hundred  and  seventy-nine  students, 
the  showing  was  yet  worse. 

It  would  seem  that  there  is  a  strong  tendency  in  tlieology 
as  in  trade  to  rush  into  the  work  with  a  constantly  decreasing 
general  preparation.  The  avei^ge  length  of  course  of  one 
hundred  and  nineteen  institutions  is  a  fraction  over  three 
years.  In  its  character,  as  in  that  of  the  college  of  liberal 
arts,  modem  thought  has  forced  some  noticeable  modifica- 
tions. Modern  theology,  modern  theism,  and  anti-theistic 
theories,  occupy  a  large  place,  with  something  of  the  philo- 
sophic relations  of  Christianity  to  science  and  comparative 
cosmogonies.  The  course  in  Harvard  includes  the  history, 
methods,  and  principles  of  biblical  interpretation ;  compara- 
tive studies  in  Vedic  religions,  Hindoo  philosophies,  Buddh- 
ism, Mazdaism,  and  Chinese  religions;  the  psychological 
basis  of  religious  faith  and  its  content ;  and  ethics,  in  a  study 


212       TEE  PERIOD  OF  REORGANIZATION. 

of  such  social  questions  as  public  charity,  labor,  prisons,  tem- 
perance, divorce,  and  tlie  treatment  of  the  Indians.  And 
yet  there  are  fields  of  investigation  and  discovery  in  pagan 
experience,  and  pagan  cosmogonies,  and  pagan  myths ;  plant 
and  animal  woi-ship  ;  blood  covenants  and  the  vicarious 
sacrifices  of  primitive  peoples,  -vvith  large  possibilities  in 
the  newer  development  of  anthropological  and  contempo- 
rary social  science,  which  would  seem  to  contribute  to  any 
rational  study  of  the  Christian  religion,  but  which  are  usu- 
ally omitted  from  the  professional  preparation. 

2.  Legal  Education. 

If  a  fairly  comprehensive  elementary  education,  gener- 
ally diffused,  is  fundamental  to  a  free  people,  not  less  mate- 
rial is  it  that  there  be  generous  provision  for  the  profound- 
est  and  freest  discipline  in  law  and  government.  Failure  in 
this  is  suicidal.  The  profession  is  large  and  increasing.  Its 
members  have  been  a  ruling  factor  in  shaping  both  constitu- 
tion and  law.  From  the  presidential  oflBce,  through  both 
Houses  of  Congress,  the  Cabinet,  State  Legislatures,  and  ad- 
ministrative departments,  State  and  Federal,  a  majority  of 
the  incumbents  have  been  of  this  class.  For  the  safe  exer- 
cise of  such  function  is  demanded  a  broad  and  liberal  prepa- 
ration. Questions  of  government  are  to  be  studied  at  first 
hand;  institutions  in  their  genesis ;  social  law  and  custom; 
historical  and  comparative  studies  in  legislation  and  judica- 
ture. Familiarity  with  economic  forces  and  political  ques- 
tions— the  conditions  and  interests  in  concrete,  which  under- 
lie all  legislation  and  administration  as  well,  is  indispensable. 
But  all  this  is  needed  for  the  lawyer  as  such.  Whatever 
culture  makes  him  wiser  to  frame  laws,  rationalizes  his  prac- 
tice as  a  jurist  and  at  the  bar. 

Here  as  elsewhere  the  sphere  of  interest  has  been  greatly 
enlarged  in  fifty  years.  Anthropology  and  institutional 
history  and  ethics  can  not  be  ignored.  In  a  recent  address 
before  the  Yale  Law  Club,  David  Dudley  Field,  after  insist- 
ing that  there  is  something  more  for  a  lawyer  to  do  than  to 


THE  PROFESSIONS.  213 

learn  what  is  contained  in  Kent's  "  Commentaries,"  said :  * 
"  Population  increases ;  the  wants  and  industries  of  the  peo- 
ple increase  also;  developments  occur  on  all  sides,  more 
often  in  the  right  direction,  sometimes  in  the  wrong;  and 
we  who  are  affected  by  them  have  to  see  to  it  that  we  for- 
ward and  guide  the  one,  while  we  hinder  or  arrest  the  other ; 
I  say  we  have  to  see  to  it.  We,  all  of  us,  the  lawyer  in  his 
sphere,  the  citizen  who  is  not  a  lawyer  in  his." 

It  would  be  satisfying  to  know  that  the  average  formal 
training  of  the  lawyer  covered  so  large  a  field.  That  it  does 
not,  requires  no  special  training  to  see.  The  profession  has 
not  wholly  lost  the  "  scholastic  fondness  for  verbal  subtleties, 
puerilities,  and  reiinenients  which  obscure  sound  reasoning." 

Of  the  highest  ideas  of  "  fitting  for  the  bar,"  current  at 
successive  periods,  the  data  are  wanting  for  any  connected 
study.  Enough,  however,  is  known  to  indicate  the  line  of 
development.  In  the  United  States  two  courses  have  been 
open  to  the  prospective  lawyer.  These  correspond  to  the 
apprentice  and  technical  methods  of  learning  a  trade.  The 
one  belongs  to  the  office,  the  other  to  the  school.  The  one 
emphasizes  the  practice,  the  other  the  principle.  Against 
the  thought  is  too  often  set  the  form.  The  ofi&ce  service, 
viewed  pedagogically,  is  not  without  its  advantages.  It  in- 
volves the  principle,  so  familiar  to  teachers,  of  "  learning  by 
doing."  Besides  there  is  a  wholesome  economy  in  seeing 
haK-understood  theory  put  into  daily  practice  by  a  master. 
To  have  grown  into  a  knowledge  of  law,  under  no  formal 
lessons,  but  in  daily  contact  with  Kent  or  Story  or  Marshall, 
were  better  than  four  years  at  Harvard  or  Columbia.  But 
not  every  lawyer  is  a  jurist,  and  many  offices  are  shops.  To 
know  the  practice  only  is  scarcely  professional.  Ability  to 
reproduce  legal  forms — though  necessary — is  a  small  part  of 
legal  knowledge. 

From  an  early  day  in  our  national  history,  there  were  not 

*  Quoted  with  comments  in  the  "  American  Law  Eeview,"  February, 
1888,  p.  58. 


214  THE  PERIOD  OF  REORG^VNIZATION. 

wanting  those  who  saw  the  need  of  a  better  preparation  than 
is  possible  to  an  apprentice  or  lawyer's  clerk.  Chancellor 
Kent,  the  distinguished  jurist,  and  professor  in  Columbia 
College,  delivered  successive  courses  of  lectui*es  as  early  as 
1796 ;  and  Judge  WQson,  in  the  College  of  Philadelphia,  six 
years  earlier  (1790-'91).  A  kind  of  private  school,  at  which 
lectures  were  given  by  one  Timothy  Reeves,  had  been  opened 
at  Litchfield,  Connecticut,  1784.  The  lectures  however,  were 
few,  desultory,  with  no  attempt  at  a  logical  treatment,  and 
very  inadequate.  Later  (1798),  Judge  Gould  became  asso- 
ciated with  him,  and  the  school  is  said  to  have  been  continued 
for  more  than  thirty  years,  and  to  have  been  the  iSrst  suc- 
cessful one  in  the  United  States.  In  the  first  years  following 
the  Revolution,  the  i*anks  of  lawyers  were  rapidly  filled  and 
extended.  A  generation  before,  ambitious  young  men  had 
prosecuted  their  legal  studies  in  England,  Independence 
once  established,  intercourse  with  Em*oi>e  was  less  frequent. 
An  English  work  of  1790  affirms  that  there  were  three  hxm- 
dred  practicing  lawyers  in  Connecticut;  and  that  in  New 
York  State  and  the  North  "lawyers  swarmed."  Burke  had 
said,  fifteen  years  before,  that  "nearly  as  many  of  Black- 
stone's  '  Commentaries '  had  been  sold  in  America  as  in 
England."  Office  pupilage,  and  a  year  in  Blackstone,  were 
the  order  of  the  day. 

The  first  school  inaugurated  after  the  beginning  of  the 
century,  and  the  earliest  of  those  still  in  existence,  was  that 
of  the  University  of  Maryland,  founded  1812.  (At  this  time 
there  were  seven  medical  schools  in  the  States,  one  of  which 
had  been  in  existence  nearly  half  a  century.)  The  Mary- 
land experiment  was  followed  (1815)  by  a  professorship  at 
Harvard,  which  two  years  later  was  dignified  by  the  name, 
if  not  the  appointments,  of  a  "  school."  Private  enteri^rise 
in  a  Yale  graduate  had  maintained,  for  a  quarter  of  a  cent- 
ury, a  law-school  in  New  Haven,  to  which  students  came 
ivora  the  adjoining  States ;  and  which,  in  the  year  1824,  at 
the  instance  of  President  D  wight,  was  recognized  and  incor- 
porated as  a  part  of  Yale  College. 


THE  PROFESSIONS.  215 

The  particular  achievement,  though,  with  which  the 
present  considex-ation  is  concerned,  coming  within  the 
first  half  of  the  century,  is  the  founding  of  the  Univer- 
sity of  Virginia.  It  opened  (1825)  with  eight  independ- 
ent schools,  in  which  law  was  co-ordinated  with  medi- 
cine, philosophy,  science,  the  languages,  and  mathematics. 
This  was  the  most  progressive  step  of  the  period,  and  did 
much  throughout  the  States  to  confer  upon  the  profes- 
sion its  rightful  dignity.  Of  others  in  the  same  period 
there  were  the  Law  School  of  Cincinnati  College  (1833), 
and  departments  in  Emory  College,  Georgia,  (1837),  In- 
diana University  (1840),  Cumberland  University,  Tennes- 
see (1847),  and  the  University  of  Mississippi  (1848);  per- 
haps a  dozen  institutions  in  all,  with  an  aggregate  of  four 
hundred  students.  There  were  even  fewer  colleges  giving 
serious  attention  to  history  or  political  science,  and  none, 
if  the  work  of  Lieber  be  excepted,  to  the  constitution  and 
functions  of  government,  and  the  nature  of  civil  rights,  as 
the  basis  of  legal  study.  And  yet  the  period  was  rich  in  the 
seeds  sown  for  the  generations.  Story  was  in  Harvard,  and 
Thomas  R.  Dew  in  William  and  Mary.  The  "  Commenta- 
ries "  of  Kent  had  been  published,  and,  scarcely  less  import- 
ant in  their  legal  aspect,  the  "  Hermeneutics  "  of  Lieber,  his 
"Political  Ethics,"  and  "Civil  Liberty  and  Self-Govern- 
ment." 

Within  the  next  ten  years  the  number  of  institutions  was 
almost  doubled :  in  1872  there  were  thirty  schools,  reporting 
two  thousand  students.  One  impulse  to  this  larger  activity 
is  to  be  found  in  the  establishment  of  more  thorough  courses 
in  Columbia  College  and  Michigan  University,  both  in  the 
same  year  (1858),  and  both  regenerative,  if  not  revolutionary. 
This  may  be  taken  as  the  beginning  of  the  more  system- 
atic and  comprehensive  and  scientific  study  of  law  in  the 
United  States.  The  stand  then  taken  by  these  two  institu- 
tions has  given  them  an  enviable  record,  and  commends 
the  severer  standards  of  legal  fitness.  Their  prosperity  has 
been  constant,  the  two  schools  including  at  present  nearly 


216  THE  PERIOD  OF  REORGANIZATION. 

twenty-five  per  cent  of  all  the  law  students  in.  the  United 
States.* 

Concerning  the  legal  profession  as  a  representative  of  a 
liberal  culture,  a  study  of  the  records  of  forty-five  schools 
reveals  certain  unwelcome  truths.  Very  few  institutions 
impose  any  scholastic  conditions  for  entrance;  fewer  yet 
provide  a  graded  course  of  instruction — either  lectures  or 
reading — or,  even  indirectly,  give  any  marked  encourage- 
ment to  graduate  study  in  the  profession. 

Of  the  first  of  these  points,  a  recent  correspondent  in  the 
"American  Law  Register"  says  that,  of  twenty-three  law- 
schools  interrogated,  "  eleven  do  have  some  sort  of  entrance 
examinations, "  Most  of  them,  however,  must  be  very  meager. 
To  the  Law  School  of  Columbia  College  candidates  for  a  de- 
gree may — (1)  present  diplomas  of  graduation  from  some 
reputable  college,  and  be  admitted  without  examination ;  (2) 
present  a  certificate  of  having  satisfactorily  passed  the  regents' 
examination ;  or  (3)  take  the  formal  entrance  examination, 
which  includes  (a)  history — Greek,  Roman,  English,  and 
United  States ;  (6)  grammar,  rhetoric,  and  composition ;  (c) 
Latin — Caesar's  Gallic  War  entire,  six  books  of  Virgil's  .^neid, 
and  six  orations  of  Cicero,  Michigan  has  similar  require- 
ments, and  Iowa  since  1885.  Harvard  imposed  an  entrance 
examination  in  1877  ;  an  act  which  had  the  effect,  says 
President  Eliot,  "to  increase  the  proportion  of  college 
graduates."  Yale  had  examined  for  admission,  two  years 
before.  Other  institutions,  as  the  University  of  Kansas, 
recommend  candidates  to  take  a  course  of  general  cult- 
xire,  but  have  no  established  conditions  for  entrance.  Of 
the  students  in  the  Harvard  Law  School  from  sixty-five 
to  seventy  per  cent  have  taken  academic  degrees,  in  the 
University  of  Georgia  sixty-six  per  cent,  Columbia  fifty- 
three  per  cent,  Boston  University  forty-four  per  cent,  and 
Albany  Law  School  forty  per  cent.     But  these  are  supe- 

*  Seven  hundred  and  thirty-seven,  out  of  an  aggregate  of  three  thousand 
one  hundred  and  eighty-five,  reported  to  the  Bureau  of  Education. 


THE  PROFESSIONS.  217 

rior — the  average  for  1886-'87,  of  fifty  institutions,  was  but 
twenty-one  per  cent. 

Eeferring  again  to  the  statistical  article  in  the  "  Law  Reg- 
ister," it  was  claimed  that  nineteen  institutions  have  made 
some  attempt  at  grading  the  courses  of  study — requiring  cer- 
tain subjects  to  be  taken  in  course  and  before  others  specified. 
In  no  other  class  of  professional  or  academic  work  has  so 
httle  effort  been  made  to  co-ordinate  the  parts,  or  arrange 
and  present  them  with  an  eye  to  their  logical  or  economic 
sequence.  In  the  last  decade,  however,  something  has  been 
accomplished.  Harvard  since  1877  has  had  a  three  years' 
course,  the  first  two  years  of  which  are  elective,  and  Michi- 
gan University  a  full  graded  and  prescribed  course  since  1886. 
In  both  the  last  and  at  Columbia  the  work  covers  two  years ; 
but  at  the  latter  each  year  is  complete  in  itself,  and  recognizes 
almost  no  necessary  sequence  of  subjects. 

3.  Medical  Education. 

In  its  relation  to  general  knowledge,  the  attitude  of 
medicine  is  unique.  As  a  profession  it  is  pre-eminently  the 
scientific  one  ;  it  stands  close  to  physical  Nature,  and  con- 
cerns the  material  interests  of  man.  It  is  one  of  the  oldest, 
and  yet,  of  all  the  professions,  its  practice  is  most  empirical. 
Few  callings  have  wider  contributing  fields  of  thought,  or 
are  richer  in  the  conclusions  of  modern  inquiry.  That  the 
profession  has  vastly  profited  by  the  general  advance,  is  evi- 
dent upon  a  superficial  investigation  only — how  much  less 
than  it  should,  appears  from  the  insufiicient  and  hasty 
courses  in  its  schools. 

As  the  earliest  practice  of  medicine  was  non-professional,  so 
the  first  instruction  was  private.  In  this,  as  in  colonial  times, 
theology,  and  in  law  even  yet,  the  apprenticeship  system  has 
been  widely  prevalent.  With  few  physicians,  no  schools, 
an  undeveloped  chemistry,  and  biology  unknown,  medicine 
was  chiefly  a  practice,  and  but  imperfectly  either  a  science 
or  a  profession.  Successful  practitioners  everywhere  drew 
about  them  would-be  doctors.    Pupilage  was  common.   Emi- 


218       THE  PERIOD  OF  REORGANIZATION. 

nent  men  sometimes  had  students  from  the  adjacent  col- 
onies. These  provisional  courses  of  reading  wei*e  followed 
by  a  certificate,  and  so  the  ranks  of  the  profession  recruited 
and  enlarged.  Sometimes,  also,  formal  indentures  were 
practiced,  the  English  x)eriod  of  seven  years  being  served. 

As  early  as  the  year  1745  one  Dr.  Thomas  Cadwallader,  of 
Philadelphia,  gave  his  students,  and  a  few  others  who  joined 
them,  more  formal  and  systematic  and  complete  instruction 
in  anatomy  than  was  usual.  A  few  years  later,  similar 
training  was  to  be  had  in  Newport,  Rhode  Island,  and  just 
prior  to  the  Revolution,  in  a  dozen  or  more  colonial  towns 
and  cities.  By  the  middle  of  the  century,  also,  dissection  as 
a  means  of  instruction  was  employed  in  New  York  city. 
All  this,  of  course,  was  only  a  temporary  expedient.  It  was 
individual  and  local.  Text-book  anatomy,  with  rare  excep- 
tions, the  compounding  of  medicines  and  an  occasional 
attendance  at  the  treatment  of  a  "  special  case,"  comprised 
the  whole  education  of  many  early  physicians.  It  is  not 
strange  that  the  thoughts  of  the  best  practitioners  were 
soon  turned  to  some  more  efiicient  means  of  professional 
training.     The  problem  was  not  a  simple  one. 

The  University  of  Pennsylvania,  founded  in  1749,  and 
chartered  a  few  years  later,  was  already  in  a  prosperous 
condition.  In  the  year  1765,  five  of  the  twenty-four  trustees 
being  themselves  physicians,  the  growing  demand  for  medi- 
cal instruction  was  warmly  approved  by  the  board,  and  in 
that  year  was  elected  the  first  medical  professor  to  fill  the 
new  chair,  "  The  Theory  and  Practice  of  Physic."  This,  it 
should  be  remembered,  was  twenty  years  before  the  first 
theological  seminary,  and  almost  half  a  century  before  the 
oldest  of  existing  law-schools.  There  was  neither  time  for 
specialization  nor  means  ;  and  the  department  covered  the 
subjects  now  requiring,  in  the  same  institution,  fifty  profess- 
ors. The  first  permanent  hospital  for  the  sick  had  been 
opened  some  years  before,  in  the  same  city  ;  and  in  1768 
King's  College  founded  a  medical  "  school,"  which  had  a 
half-century's  doubtful  success,  and  closed.   Harvard  organ- 


THE  PROFESSIONS.  219 

ized  a  similar  department  in  1783  (a  generation  before  the 
other  professional  courses)  ;  Dartmouth  in  1797  ;  and  the 
University  of  Maryland  three  years  later.  During  the  same 
year  also  (1800)  was  established  the  first  pronounced  special- 
ization, and  the  only  institution  of  the  period,  with  specific 
provision  for  instruction  in  surgery — ''  The  College  of  Physi- 
cians and  Surgeons  of  New  York  City."  It  initiated  a  new 
period  in  medical  training. 

With  the  opening  of  the  year  1811,  the  department  of 
Columbia  College  being  discontinued,  there  remained,  as  the 
net  result  of  almost  fifty  years'  experience,  five  institutions, 
with  an  aggregate  attendance  of  six  hundred  and  fifty  stu- 
dents, two  thirds  of  whom  were  in  the  University  of  Penn- 
sylvania. The  population  of  the  country  was  about  seven 
millions.  From  all  these  institutions,  six  hundi'ed  appli- 
cants had  received  the  degree  and  been  admitted  to  prac- 
tice. Prior  to  the  Revolution,  it  has  been  estimated  that 
there  were  four  hundred  physicians,  not  more  than  fifty 
of  whom  had  the  sanction  of  colonial  schools,  and  fewer 
still  of  English  training.  The  improvement  was  very 
great,  and  had  been  almost  wholly  accomplished  in  a  sin- 
gle generation. 

In  the  next  quarter  of  a  century,  five  other  colleges,  in- 
cluding Yale,  established  departments,  and  in  six  States  in- 
dependent medical  colleges  were  fovmded.  The  spirit  of 
expansion  and  reorganization  was  upon  this  as  upon  all 
other  phases  of  education.  In  the  seventeen  years  from 
1837  to  1853,  twenty-five  new  schools  were  set  on  foot ;  and, 
in  the  period  since,  the  multiplication  has  been  almost  four- 
fold. There  are  now  one  hundred  and  seventy-five  institu- 
tions (including  dentistry  and  pharmacy)  out  of  two  hun- 
dred that  have  been  attempted,  representing  thirty-two 
States  (Delaware,  Nevada,  New  Jersey,  Rhode  Island,  Texas, 
and  West  Virgina  reporting  none).  More  than  one  third  of 
the  institutions  are  in  the  four  States  of  New  York,  Ohio, 
Illinois,  and  Pennsylvania ;  one  fourth  of  them  are  in  the 
South.    The  ten  cities — Baltimore,  Boston,  Chicago,  Cincin- 


220  THE  PERIOD  OF  REORGANIZATIOX. 

nati,  Louisville,  New  •  York,  Philadelphia,  St.  Louis,  San 
Francisco,  and  Washington — contain  half  of  them. 

The  specializations  also  mark  another  significant  change. 
The  one  all-inclusive  professorship  of  1765  has  developed 
into  dental,  pharmaceutical,  and  veterinary  courses,  besides 
the  schools  of  medicine  and  surgery ;  the  latter  appearing  as 
allopathic,  homoeopathic,  eclectic,  and  physio-medical — half 
of  all  the  schools  and  sixty-three  per  cent  of  the  students 
being  "  regulars." 

Concerning  the  coiirse  of  study,  almost  no  uniformity 
exists,  either  of  opinion  or  practice.  In  length  it  varies 
from  two  to  six  years,  of  from  sixteen  to  forty  weeks  each. 
Eighteen  institutions  report  one  course  only,  and  one  hun- 
dred and  twenty-nine  but  two  courses. 

The  conditions  for  admission  are  not  more  encouraging. 
It  can  scarcely  be  regarded  as  a  "  learned  profession,"  in  the 
sense  of  being  founded  upon  a  liberal  general  scholarship. 
Less  than  eight  per  cent  of  the  more  than  sixteen  thousand 
medical  students  have  previously  taken  any  academic  de- 
gree. In  respect  to  this,  it  stands  lowest  among  the  profes- 
sions; and  it  is  a  change  earnestly  to  be  desired  that  the 
efforts  of  Michigan  and  Harvard,  and  certain  other  institu- 
tions in  Philadelphia  and  New  York,  to  increase  the  require- 
ments, should  be  successful.  Within  the  last  quarter  of  a 
century,  also,  something  has  been  done  toward  grading  the 
medical  course,  by  Northwestern  University  at  Chicago, 
Michigan,  and  elsewhere.  That  medical  instruction  should 
follow  some  systematic  plan,  such  as  governs  in  all  other 
study,  need  scarcely  be  urged.  The  steady,  vigorous  growth 
and  popularity  of  institutions  that  have  such  requirements 
would  seem  to  recommend  its  more  general  adoption. 

But  the  most  important  changes  are  those  taking  place 
in  the  subject-matter  of  the  course  itself — in  the  occasional 
introduction  of  certain  correlative  branches.  Primarily, 
more  attention  is  being  given  to  the  history  of  medicine, 
both  its  practice  and  philasophy.  Small  beginnings  have 
been  made  in  psycho-physical  studies  also,  and  the  pathology 


TECHNOLOGICAL  EDUCATION.  221 

of  mind  and  general  biology ;  and  it  appears  as  if,  along 
with  abundant  clinical  advantages,  and  a  well-used  dissect- 
ing-room, the  medical  college  of  the  future  will  require  large 
general  and  special  laboratory  facilities. 

Post-graduate  and  j)olyclinic  schools  also  mark  an  ad- 
vance on  previous  years.  Seven  such  schools  are  reported — 
two  each  in  Chicago,  New  York,  and  Philadelphia,  and  one 
in  St.  Louis — where  opportunities  are  afforded  for  advanced 
and  special  study.  In  this  department  the  University  of 
Pennsylvania  offers  thirteen  courses. 

Bibliography. 

"On  tbc  Education  of  Ministers,"  Dr.  F.  L.  Patton,  "Princeton  Re- 
view," May,  1883;  "Ministerial  Education  in  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church,"  S.  M.  Vail,  1883;  "  Medical  Education,"  "  Proceedings  of  the 
New  Yorli University  Convocation,"  1885,  p.  291;  "Medical  Education," 
"  Science,"  March,  1888,  p.  103 ;  "  Medical  Education  and  Medical  Col- 
leges in  the  United  States  and  Canada"  (1765-1885),  "Report  of  the 
Illinois  State  Board  of  Health,"  1885  ;  the  "Physician  of  To-day  and  of 
the  Future,"  "Yale  Review,"  December,  1887;  the  "History  of  Medical 
Education  in  the  United  States,"  N.  S.  Davis,  1876 ;  "  Legal  Education, 
its  Aim  and  Method "  (pamphlet),  G.  B.  Finch,  1885;  "A  Century  of 
Law  in  America,"  G.  T.  Bispham,  "North  American  Review,"  1876;  the 
"  Learned  Professions  in  America,"  "  Chambers's  Journal,"  vol.  xli,  p.  6. 


CHAPTER  XIII. 

TECHNOLOGICAL  EDUCATION. 

The  three  professions  named,  it  has  been  said,  were  called 
"liberal"  because  "they  require  the  utmost  perfection  of 
character  in  their  members ;  and  because,  as  devotees  of  re- 
ligion, law,  and  medicine,  they  have  in  all  ages  pursued  them, 
as  freemen,  with  hands  unfettered  and  tongue  untied,  subject 
to  no  bonds  except  those  of  truth."  Whether  this  be  true,  it 
15 


222  THE  PERIOD  OF  REORG.VNIZATION. 

expresses  a  common  sentiment,  and  the  idea  does  not  seem 
to  have  occurred  to  most  minds  that  "  there  is  a  score  of  oc- 
cupations, professional  in  the  fullest,  and  practical  in  the 
most  literal  sense  outside  of  those  called  learned,  in  which  a 
careful  scientific  education  opens  the  door  to  the  highest 
usefulness  and  success."*  Technological  instruction,  re- 
garded in  its  general  scope,  is  not  more  practical  than  pro- 
fessional. Viewed  from  the  standpoint  of  society,  its  organic 
laws  studied,  and  looked  at  in  its  civic  and  State  conservative 
relations,  the  technology  of  industry  becomes  more  than  a 
trade.  From  the  standpoint  of  the  individual,  its  pursuit 
requires  all  the  perfection  of  character,  all  the  devotion  to 
truth,  and  freedom  from  restraint  and  bias,  ascribed  to  stu- 
dents and  practitioners  in  law,  medicine,  and  theology. 
Both  in  influence  and  dignity  it  has  vastly  appreciated  in  a 
generation.    It  is  assuming  the  professional  aspect. 

The  nomenclatiire  of  industrial  education  is  not  a  little 
confusing.  "  Technology,"  says  a  standard  and  recently  re- 
vised "  Cyclopaedia  of  Science,"  "  is  a  term  invented  to  express 
a  treatise  on  grammar."  In  the  "American  Cyclopaedia"  it 
is  made  to  include  the  "  principles  of  science  as  applied  or 
related  to  the  indvistrial  arts."  The  term  "  industrial "  itself 
is  no  less  obscure.  Now  it  is  referred  to  manual-labor 
schools ;  again,  to  trades.  A  recent  magazine  article  confines 
the  term  to  shop-schools.  It  is  not  un frequently  made  coex- 
'  tensive  with  agriculture.  According  to  the  "  Cyclopaedia  of 
Education,"  it  includes  any  course  in  which  are  taught  one 
or  several  branches  of  industry.  It  is  a  matter  of  history 
that  industrial  schools  were  formerly,  in  England,  institutions 
founded  and  supported  by  the  Government,  as  "  reformatoiy 
agencies  for  young  offenders."  Sixteen  contemporary  re- 
formatory institutions  in  the  United  States  bear  the  same 
name.  In  a  recent  most  admirable  article,  "  Industrial  Art 
Education "  is  used  to  comprise  every  sort  of  school  subor- 


*  S.  T.  "Wallis,  in  "  Johns  Hopkins  University  in  its  Relation  to  Balti- 
more." 


TECHNOLOGICAL  EDUCATION.  223 

dinating  science  to  art  or  industry,  from  veterinary  colleges 
and  schools  of  commerce  and  forestry  to  schools  of  textile 
design,  metal-working,  and  invention.  Art  itself  means  to 
one,  skill ;  to  another,  industrial  achievement ;  to  a  third, 
invention ;  to  a  fourth,  painting  or  sculpture.  The  earliest 
manual-labor  institutes  were  farms ;  now  they  may  include 
any  work  but  farmmg.  The  few  exceptions  are  of  an  earlier 
foundation,  and  only  serve  to  confirm  the  statement. 

At  the  bottom  of  technical  training  is  a  mastery  of  the 
principles  of  science  in  their  relation  to  productive  and  ad- 
ministrative art.  Mr.  J.  Scott  Russell,  from  the  standpoint 
of  his  own  countrymen,  has  phrased  it  as  "  that  which  shall 
render  an  English  artilleryman  a  better  artOleryman  than 
a  Frenchman;  an  English  soldier  a  better  soldier  than  a 
Prussian;  an  English  locomotive-builder  better  than  a 
German;  an  English  ship-builder  better  than  an  American; 
an  English  silk-manufacturer  better  than  a  Lyons  silk-man- 
ufacturer ;  and  an  English  ribbon-maker  superior  to  a  Swiss 
ribbon- maker."  It  is  the  perfecting  of  man  on  the  creative 
side.  And  in  so  far  as  this  spirit  takes  on  the  character  of 
universality,  technology  becomes  professional. 

In  a  historical  treatment  of  the  subject,  much  appears 
that  is  in  no  sense  professional,  is  local  and  transient ;  but 
which  belongs  to  the  development  of  the  impulse,  and  ex- 
plains the  current  interest.  It  was  antecedent  to,  because 
the  logical  ground  of,  the  more  scientific  study  of  re- 
cent years. 

1.  The.  Beginnings  of  Industrial  Training. 

One  of  the  first  manifestations  of  the  new  industrialism 
in  the  first  half  of  the  present  century  was  the  inauguration 
of  the  manual-labor  seminaries.  Among  these  were  the 
Rensselaer  School,  New  York  (1834),  and  the  Fellenberg  In- 
stitute, at  Windsor,  Connecticut.  Within  ten  years  the  ex- 
periment had  been  tried  in  a  dozen  States.  It  was  proposed 
to  combine  literary  instruction  with  manual  labor,  sharing 
the  day  between  them,  and  afford  students  the  means  of 


224  THE  PERIOD  OF  REORGANIZATION. 

wholly  or  partially  meeting  their  expenses.  Of  this  charac- 
ter were  the  Oneida  Institute,  the  Genesee  Manual  Labor 
School,  and  the  Yates  Polytechnic,  of  New  York,  all  founded 
before  1830,  and  a  dozen  or  more  in  Illinois,  out  of  one  of 
which  Knox  College  took  its  rise.  Franklin  College,  Indi- 
ana, was  first  a  manual-labor  organization,  as  were  others  in 
Michigan  and  adjoining  States.  Though  many  of  these 
efforts  to  promote  industry  in  connection  with  literary  in- 
stitutions failed,  and  most  of  the  schools  were  closed  or  re- 
organized as  academies,  they  served  a  double  and  worthy 
purpose:  the  function  of  intelligent  labor  was  magnified, 
and  the  seed  sown  for  a  more  fruitful  harvest.  For  how 
much  of  the  idea  of  technical  education  in  agriculture  and 
the  mechanic  arts  the  present  is  indebted  to  these  institu- 
tions, can  not  perhaps  be  determined.  Enough  is  known  to 
suggest  that  the  obligation  must  be  large. 

The  Rensselaer  School  (1824)  had,  for  that  day  extensive 
laboratory  advantages  in  chemistry  and  physics,  and  taught 
the  analysis  of  soils,  fertilizers,  minerals,  and  animal  and 
vegetable  matter,  with  their  applications  to  agriculture,  do- 
mestic economy,  and  the  arts;  and  as  early  as  1835  had  a 
department  for  instruction  in  engineering  and  technology. 
Its  influence  throughout  has  been  bracing  and  intelligent, 
and  it  deserves  abundant  honor  as  the  pioneer  in  the  United 
States  in  a  much-needed  culture.  Among  its  hundreds  of 
alumni,  to  name  only  two,  are  S.  Edward  Warren,  of  the 
Massachusetts  Institute  of  Technology,  and  the  late  Wash- 
ington A.  Roebling,  chief-engineer  of  the  great  East  River 
(New  York)  susi>ension-bridge. 

Next  to  the  institutions  named,  and  generally  of  a  more 
technical  character,  were  the  three  or  four  military  acade- 
mies of  forty  to  sixty  years  ago.  The  United  States  Military 
and  Naval  Schools,  the  Military  Institute  of  Virginia,  and 
the  South  Carolina  Military  Academy,  all  founded  before 
1846,  offered  even  then  the  best  training  for  ordinary  engi- 
neering and  mechanical  pursuits  to  be  had  in  this  country. 
Indeed,  the  only  other  institutions  of  the  period,  pretending 


TECHNOLOGICAL  EDUCATION.  225 

to  give  such  instruction,  were  the  University  of  Virginia, 
whose  course  in  science,  however,  for  twenty  years  after  its 
founding  meant  little  more  than  chemistry ;  Norwich  Uni- 
versity, Vermont ;  and  the  Franklin  Institute,  Philadelphia. 
To  these  should  be  added,  perhaps,  the  school  of  civil  engi- 
neering iu'st  established  (1846)  at  Union  College,  under  Prof. 
W.  M.  GHlespie. 

In  the  fifteen  years  following,  and  covering  the  period 
up  to  the  national  land  grant  of  1861,  twelve  other  institu- 
tions were  founded  having  pronounced  scientific  aims.  Six 
of  these  were  special  schools,  independent  organizations  of 
well-defined  purpose,  and  the  first  considerable  approach  to 
the  true  technical  institution.  These  were  the  Spring  Gar- 
den Institute,  the  Wagner  Free  Institute,  and  the  School 
of  Design  for  Women,  all  of  Philadelphia ;  and  the  O'Fallon 
Polytechnic  Institute,  established  ten  years  later  in  connec- 
tion with  Washington  University,  St.  Louis. 

Supplementing  these  special  schools  or  technological 
institutions,  perhaps  logically  antecedent  to  and  sometimes 
chronologically  antedating  them,  are  the  fixed  and  more  or 
less  independent  scientific  departments  of  the  older  and  bet- 
ter endowed  collegiate  schools.  It  has  been  seen  that  the 
university  curriculum  in  a  century  has  greatly  changed. 
From  the  single  classical  course  of  the  colonial  school  to  the 
present  aggregation  of  studies  the  steps  have  been  both  many 
and  slow.  It  took  Harvard  half  a  century  to  accept  a  chair 
of  Chemistry,  the  Ei^ing  professorship  (1783)  being  the  first 
formal  recognition  by  an  American  college  of  the  broad  field 
of  natural  science.  Yale  (1802)  appointed  Prof.  Benjamin 
Silliman  to  a  like  position.  The  Massachusetts  professorship 
of  Natural  History  was  added  to  Harvard  about  the  same 
time,  and  the  Rumford  chair  of  the  "  Application  of  Science 
to  the  Useful  Arts,"  ten  years  later,  marking  the  only  advance 
for  a  quarter  of  a  century.  The  impulse,  however,  was  being 
felt  for  a  more  generous  recognition  of  science.  Silliman 
and  Prof.  Olmsted,  in  Yale,  Prof.  Amos  Eaton  in  the  Rensse- 
laer school,  the  Connecticut  and  American  Academies  of 


226  THE  PERIOD  OF  REORGANIZATION. 

Arts  and  Sciences,  and  the  Philadelphia  Academy  of  Natu- 
ral Science,  were  all  so  many  agencies  to  magnify  the  im- 
portance and  service  of  acquaintance  with  natural  phenom- 
ena and  their  laws. 

In  1846  Yale  instituted  two  new  professorships,  one  in 
agricultural  chemistry,  and  the  other  in  practical  or  applied 
chemistry ;  and  the  year  following  the  corporation  of  Har- 
vard voted  to  establish  in  the  university  an  advanced  school 
of  instruction  in  theoretical  and  applied  science,  and  in  the 
other  usual  branches  of  academic  learning,  to  be  called  the 
"Scientific  School  of  the  University  of  Cambridge."  The 
two  developed  into  the  Sheffield  and  Lawrence  Scientific 
Schools  of  Yale  and  Harvard  respectively. 

Union  College  (since  1873,  Union  University),  New  York, 
chartered  (1795),  has  for  more  than  forty  years  maintained 
a  course  called  the  "  School  of  Civil  Engineering."  Except 
the  Rensselaer  Polytechnic,  this  was  apparently  the  only 
institution  providing  instruction  in  civil  engineering,  until 
the  Lichigh  University,  founded  and  generously  endowed 
by  Asa  Packer  in  1868.  The  "  School  of  Mines,"  Columbia 
College,  established  four  years  before,  perhaps  included  civil 
engineering  as  one  of  its  subordinate  courses.  Besides  these, 
the  University  of  Missouri  (1871),  Ohio  University  (1879), 
and  the  University  of  Wisconsin  (1881),  provided  instruction 
in  mining  and  metallurgy.  Kindred  courses  or  departments 
are  sustained  in  a  number  of  the  agricultural  and  mechan- 
ical colleges,  the  Colorado  School  of  Mines,  etc. 

The  Chandler  Scientific  School  of  Dartmouth  College 
grew  out  of  a  bequest  of  fifty  thousand  dollars  (1851)  for  the 
establishment  of  a  school  of  instruction  in  the  college  "  in 
the  practical  and  useful  arts  of  life."  It  includes  mechan- 
ical and  civil  engineering,  and  provides  that  "  no  other  or 
higher  preparatory  studies  shall  be  required  for  entrance 
than  are  pursued  in  the  common  schools  of  New  England." 
This  aims  to  turn  out  intelligent  workmen.  On  the  con- 
trary, the  School  of  Technology  of  Lehigh  University  has 
a  five  years'  course,  has  chemical  laboratories  said  to  be  un- 


TECHNOLOGICAL  EDUCATION.  227 

surpassed  in  tliis  country,  and  sets  forth  as  its  object  the 
fitting  of  foremen  and  superintendents,  rather  than  work- 
men of  manual  dexterity  and  skill  in  the  use  of  tools.  The 
Towne  Scientific  School  (1872)  of  the  University  of  Pennsyl- 
vania, similar  to  others  in  general,  differs  in  the  recent  pro- 
visions made  for  mstruction  in  "marine  engineering  and 
naval  architecture."  The  Pardee  Scientific  Department  of 
Lafayette  College,  Pennsylvania,  the  Scientific  School  of 
the  University  of  California,  and  the  John  C.  Greene  School 
of  Science  in  Princeton,  all  deserve  mention,  both  for  then* 
excellent  work  and  their  contributions  to  the  solution  of 
current  technologico-industrial  problems. 

The  Case  School  of  applied  Science  (1877),  Cleveland, 
Ohio,  and  the  Sibley  School  of  Cornell  University,  are  ex- 
cellent examples  of  the  two  classes  of  technological  agencies 
—  independent  schools  and  university  departments,  well 
endowed,  and  with  a  purpose  to  fit  for  the  highest  service 
in  science  and  the  arts. 

2.  The  Curriculum. 

Though  homogeneous  in  the  scientific  principles  in- 
volved, the  instruction  as  to  its  applications  is  very  diverse. 
Upon  this  fact  rests  the  most  hopeful  promise  of  the  present 
tendency.  A  few  things  well  taught,  a  grounding  in  the 
principles  of  abstract  science,  knowledge  of  and  skill  in  the 
most  comprehensive  applications,  open  the  way  for  indefinite 
developments. 

Without  attempting  an  exhaustive,  or  a  strictly  logical 
classification,  it  may  be  said  that  technical  training,  as  repre- 
sented in  the  institutions  of  the  United  States,  appears  as 
agriculture  in  forty-seven  of  them  ;  mechanical  art  in  fifty- 
six  ;  architecture,  including  naval  and  military,  in  sixteen  ; 
metallurgy  specified  in  seventeen ;  and  engineering,  eighty- 
nine  (civil,  fifty-four  ;  mining,  thirty  ;  electrical,  five). 

Of  the  eighty-six  institutions  prominently  identified  with 
advanced  technological  work,  twenty-eight,  or  about  one 
third,  are  provided  with  shops  for  instruction  in  practical 


228  THE  PERIOD  OF  REORGANIZATION. 

mechanics.  The  great  significance  of  this  fact  apjiears  in 
the  statement  tliat  two  thirds  of  these  (twenty-eight)  institu- 
tions have  been  founded  within  the  last  twenty  years,  and 
most  of  the  practice  schools  even  later. 

Supplementary,  also,  to  these  courses  are  thirty-seven 
schools  of  instruction  in  art  and  design  ;  a  dozen  or  more 
manual  training  schools  ;  either  public  and  free,  as  in  To- 
ledo, Baltimore,  Boston,  New  York,  and  Philadelphia  ;  en- 
dowed, as  the  Miller  Manual  Labor  School,  Crozet,  Virginia, 
and  the  Manual  Training  School  of  Washington  University, 
St.  Louis  ;  or  private  and  maintained  by  tuition,  as  in  Chi- 
cago, Cincinnati,  and  Cleveland  ;  several  industrial  organ- 
izations (forty  to  fifty),  of  the  nature  of  "  homes,"  ''  reform- 
atories," "  orphanages,"  "  Indian  schools,"  etc.  ;  besides 
more  or  less  of  like  work  in  the  elementary  grades  of  public 
schools  in  the  larger  cities,*  and  a  very  satisfactory  introduc- 
tion to  it  all  in  the  constructive  habit  bom  of  the  Kinder- 
garten. 

Most  of  the  schools  include  two  or  more  of  the  courses 
named.  Delaware  College  ;  Comwallis  College,  Oregon ; 
four  of  the  six  institutions  in  Georgia  ;  the  Storrs  Agricult- 
ural School,  Mansfield,  Connecticut ;  the  Agricultural  College, 
Brookings,  South  Dakota;  and  the  Massachusetts  School  at 
Amherst,  are  almost  wholly  given  to  agriculture  and  im- 
mediately related  subjects.  Colorado  has  a  special  school 
of  mines,  and  the  technological  instruction  of  the  Western 
University  of  Pennsylvania,  of  Syracuse  University,  the 
University  of  the  City  of  New  York,  and  Union  College,  is 
practically  confined  to  civil  engineering.  A  few  schools  are 
really  polytechnic :  such  as  the  Massachusetts  Institute  of 
Technology,  the  Worcester  Polytechnic  School,  the  O'Fallon 
Institute  of  St.  Louis,  the  School  of  Technology,  Lehigh 
University,  the  CJomell  (Allege  of  Agriculture  and  Mechanic 

*  Jamestown,  New  York,  is  a  good  illustration  of  what  may  be  accom- 
plished in  this  direction  in  any  town  if  sensibly  undertaken.  The  manual 
of  Superintendent  Love  is  suggestive  of  thoughtful  training. 


TECHNOLOGICAL  EDUCATION.  229 

Arts,  and  Rose  Polytechnic  Institute,  Indiana.  The  Colum- 
bia College  School  of  Mines,  the  John  C.  Greene  School  of 
Science,  and  the  Universities  of  Wisconsin  and  Minnesota, 
comprehend  most  forms  of  engineering,  Cornell  and  Yale, 
the  Indiistrial  University  of  Illinois,  and  the  State  Agricult- 
ural Colleges  of  Indiana,  Kansas,  Kentucky,  Minnesota, 
Missouri,  Ohio,  and  Oregon,  have  more  or  less  complete 
courses  in  forestry  ;  and  by  a  few  institutions  are  taught 
veterinary  science,  domestic  economy,  telegraphy,  print- 
ing, etc. 

Of  the  thirty-seven  schools  of  design,  one  half  have  for 
their  leading  purpose -the  promotion  of  the  industrial  arts,  as 
architecture,  engineering  and  manufactures ;  most  of  them 
include  something  of  the  fine  arts,  a  dozen  of  them  such 
instruction  only.  The  Massachusetts  Art  Normal  School  is 
a  training-school  for  teachers  of  industrial  drawing.  This 
was  founded  under  the  direction  of  Prof.  Walter  Smith, 
than  whom  it  is  safe  to  say  no  individual  has  done  more  for 
the  higher  industrial  interests  of  the  country ;  and  was  doubt- 
less inspired  by  the  profound  conviction,  then  becoming 
general,  that  at  the  bottom  of  all  this  work — the  alphabet 
of  technical  trairdng — is  thorough  instruction  in  drawing, 
fixing  habits  of  invention  and  construction.  The  Massachu- 
setts law  of  1869,  authorizing  free  instruction  in  mechanical 
drawing  in  the  cities  and  large  towns,  the  employment  of 
Prof.  Smith  as  Superintendent  of  Drawing  in  Boston  the 
year  following,  its  introduction  into  twenty-two  other  cities 
almost  immediately,  Prof.  Smith's  State  directorship,  and 
the  establishment  of  the  State  Normal  Art  School  (Boston, 
1875),  mark  the  beginning  of  an  intelligent  interest  in 
drawing  in  the  United  States.  It  had  already  (1869)  been 
put  into  the  public  schools  of  Cincinnati  and  Syracuse,  and 
within  ten  years  appeared  on  most  of  the  programmes  in  the 
larger  cities  of  the  country.  In  a  recent  report  on  drawing 
made  to  the  National  Educational  Association  (1884),  of  sev- 
enty cities  giving  information,  sixty-seven  make  it  compul- 
sory along  with  other  branches.    About  half  of  them  have 


230  THE  PERIOD  OF  REORGANIZATION. 

special  supervision,  the  work  graded  and  extended  into  the 
high-school.  It  forms  a  part  of  the  regular  course  of  in- 
struction, also,  in  one  hundred  and  eleven  of  the  one  hundred 
and  twenty-four  public  normal  schools  of  the  country. 

Concerning  the  manual-training  school  there  are  two 
widely  different  views.  The  one  insists  that  it  shall  teach 
no  trade,  but  the  rudiments  of  all  of  them ;  the  other  that 
the  particular  industries  may  properly  be  held  to  maintain 
schools  to  recruit  their  own  ranks.  The  first  would  teach 
the  use  of  the  axe,  the  saw,  the  plane,  the  hammer,  the 
square,  the  chisel,  and  the  file ;  claiming  that  "  the  graduate 
from  such  a  course  at  the  end  of  three  years  is  within  from 
one  to  three  months  of  knowing  quite  as  thoroughly  as  an 
apprentice  who  had  served  seven  years  any  one  of  the  twenty 
trades  to  which  he  may  choose  to  turn."  Of  this  class  are, 
besides  most  of  those  already  named,  the  Haish  Manual 
Training  School  of  Denver ;  that  of  Tulane  University,  New 
Orleans ;  the  Felix  Adler's  Workingman's  School,  of  New 
York  City;  and  the  School  of  Manual  Technology,  Van- 
derbilt  University,  Nashville. 

Among  schools  of  the  second  class  are  some  interesting 
institutions.  They  include  the  numerous  general  and  spe- 
cial trade-schools  for  boys,  instruction  in  the  manifold  phases 
of  domestic  economy  for  gii'ls,  and  the  yet  small  but  rapidly 
growing  class  of  industries  open  alike  to  both. 

Sewing  is  taught  in  public  or  private  schools  in  Balti- 
more, Boston,  Cincinnati,  Chicago,  New  York,  Philadelphia, 
Providence,  St.  Louis,  and  about  a  dozen  other  cities,  besides 
in  a  number  of  special  institutions. 

Cooking-schools  are  no  longer  a  novelty  in  half  as  many 
of  the  larger  cities,  since  their  introduction  into  New  York 
city  in  1876.  Printing  may  be  learned  in  the  Kansas  Agri- 
cultural College  ;  Cooper  Union,  New  York ;  Girard  Col- 
lege, Philadelphia,  and  elsewhere.  Telegraphy,  stenography, 
wood-engraving,  various  kinds  of  smithing,  and  carpentry, 
have,  especially  the  last  two,  numerous  representatives.    The 


TECHNOLOGICAL  EDUCATION.  231 

New  York  Kitchen  Garden,  for  the  instruction  of  children 
in  the  work  of  the  household,  is  an  interesting  modification 
of  the  Kindergarten  along  the  indiistrial  line.  For  young 
ladies,  the  Elizabeth  Atdl  Seminary,  Lexington,  Missouri,  is 
a  school  of  home-work,  in  which  "are  practically  taught 
the  mysteries  of  the  kitchen  and  laundry,"  and  upon  whose 
graduates  is  conferred  the  degree  of  "Mistress  of  Home- 
Work."  The  Lasell  Seminary  at  Auburn  dale,  Massachusetts, 
also  has  recently  (1885)  undertaken  a  similar  but  more  com- 
prehensive experiment,  including  lessons  and  lectures  in 
anatomy  and  physiology,  with  hygiene  and  sanitation,  the 
principles  of  common  law  by  an  eminent  attorney,  instruc- 
tion and  practice  in  the  arts  of  domestic  life,  the  principles 
of  dress,  artistic  house-furnishing,  healthy  homes,  and 
cooking. 

Of  training-schools  for  nurses  there  are  thirty-one,  dis- 
tributed through  twelve  States  and  the  District  of  Columbia. 
New  York  has  eleven ;  Massachusetts,  five ;  Pennsylvania, 
three ;  Connecticut  and  New  Jersey,  each  two ;  and  Illinois, 
Indiana,  Minnesota,  Missouri,  Rhode  Island,  South  Caro- 
lina, Vermont,  and  the  District  of  Columbia,  one  each. 

Of  schools  of  a  different  character  still,  there  have  been 
or  are  the  Carriage-Builders'  Apprenticeship  School,  New 
York ;  those  of  Hoe  &  Co.,  printing-press  manufacturers ;  and 
Tiffany  &  Co.,  jewelers;  and  the  Tailors'  "Trades  School" 
recently  established  and  flourishing  in  Baltimore,  besides  the 
Pennsylvania  Railroad  novitiate  system,  at  Altoona ;  in 
which  particular  trades  or  guilds  or  corporations  have 
sought  to  provide  themselves  with  a  distinct  and  specially 
trained  class  of  artisans.  The  latest  and  in  some  respects  the 
most  interesting  experiment  of  the  kind  is  that  of  the  "  Bal- 
timore and  Ohio  Railroad  service  "  at  Mt.  Clare,  Baltimore. 
It  was  inaugurated  in  1885,  apprentices  being  selected  from 
applicants  by  competitive  examination. 

It  was  a  technological  school,  whose  instruction  prima- 
rily comprised  the  various  phases  of  railroading,  but  was  pre- 
pared for,  and  supplemented  by,  drill  in  geometry,  algebra. 


232  THE  PERIOD  OF  REORGANIZATION. 

physics,  locomotive  -  engineering,  mechanics,  mechanical 
drawing,  free-hand  drawing,  geometrical  drawing,  English, 
and  history. 

3.  Agricultural  Education. 

Of  all  the  institutions  for  investigating  and  realizing 
the  applications  of  science  to  the  arts,  the  most  prominent 
in  recent  years  have  heen  the  agricultural  schools  founded 
under  the  congressional  Land  Grant  Act  of  1862. 

The  Legislature  of  Michigan  in  1850  instructed  their  dele- 
gates to  Congress  to  ask  three  hundred  and  fifty  thousand 
acres  of  land  for  the  establishment  of  agricultural  schools 
in  their  State.  In  a  generation  twelve  new  States  had  been 
formed ;  and  the  center  of  population  had  moved  westward 
one  hundred  and  fifty  miles.  Large  developments  in  indus- 
try were  taking  place  in  the  Mississippi  Valley.  The  section 
was  predominantly  agricultural.  Wealth  lay  in  the  right 
tilling  of  the  soil.  This  great  and  newly  recognized  need  of 
the  country  for  intelligence  in  farming  soon  became  matter 
of  common  discussion.  It  was  an  era  of  farmers'  societies, 
agricultural  conventions,  etc.  Following  the  legislative  and 
general  interest  in  Michigan,*  Illinois  the  next  year  held  at 
Granville  an  "  Industrial  Convention,"  inviting  those  en- 
gaged in  agricultural  and  mechanical  pursuits.  The  burden 
of  discussion  was  the  lack  and  need  of  industrial  education ; 
and  a  resolution  was  passed  urging  the  "  immediate  establish- 
ment of  a  university  to  meet  the  wants  of  the  industrial 
classes."  A  second  convention  was  held  in  June  of  the  fol- 
lowing year  at  Springfield,  and  a  third  at  Chicago  a  few 
months  later,  at  which  the  nature  and  organization  of  such 
institution  were  discussed,  one  committee  appointed  to  digest 
a  plan,  and  another  to  petition  Congress,  through  the  State 

*  A  comprehensive  discussion  of  the  value  of  agricultural  colleges,  as 
seen  at  that  early  day,  and  valuable  bits  of  history,  both  of  the  Michigan 
institutions  and  of  the  attempts  made  in  other  States,  may  be  had  in  the 
"  Reports  of  the  Michigan  Schools,"  under  Superintendent  Ira  Mayhew, 
1885-'88. 


TECHNOLOGICAL  EDUCATION.  233 

Legislatixre,  for  the  needed  lands  ^^for  the  establishment  of 
an  industrial  institution  in  each  State,  to  co-operate  with 
the  Smithsonian  Institution  at  Washington,  for  the  more 
liberal  and  practical  education  of  our  industrial  classes  and 
their  teachers." 

As  a  result  of  these  and  similar  efforts,  East  and  West, 
an  act  of  Congress  was  passed  in  1860  appropriating  certain 
lands  for  such  purposes,  but  it  was  vetoed  by  President  Bu- 
chanan. Two  years  later  substantially  the  same  act  was 
passed,  which,  with  the  sanction  of  President  Lincoln,  pro- 
vided for  the  appropriation  of  lands,  thirty  thousand  acres 
for  each  senator  and  representative  in  Congress,  according  to 
the  representation  of  1860.  From  the  privileges  under  this 
act,  mineral  lands  were  excluded ;  not  more  than  a  million 
acres  might  be  located  in  any  one  State ;  and  a  share  in  its 
benefits  should  accrue  only  to  those  States  accepting  within 
three  years  after  its  passage,  i.  e.,  prior  to  July  2, 1865,  or  to 
new  States  within  three  years  of  their  admission  as  States. 
The  act  further  provided  that  all  moneys  derived  from  the 
sale  of  apportioned  lands  should  constitute  a  perpetual  fund, 
the  interest  only  of  which  might  be  appropriated  "  to  the  en- 
dowment, support,  and  maintenance  of  at  least  one  college  " 
in  each  State,  where  "  the  leading  object  should  be,  without 
excluding  other  scientific  and  classical  studies,  and  including 
military  tactics,  to  teach  such  branches  of  learning  as  are  re- 
lated to  agriculture  and  the  mechanic  arts,  in  such  manner 
as  the  Legislatures  of  the  States  may  respectively  prescribe, 
in  order  to  promote  the  liberal  and  practical  education  of 
the  industrial  classes,  in  their  several  pursuits  and  profes- 
sions in  life." 

In  course  of  time  every  State  accepted  the  congressional 
offer.  Seventeen  had  opened  institutions  before  1870.  Rhode 
Island,  Kansas,  Massachusetts  (in  part),  New  Jersey,  and 
Vermont,  very  early  ;  *  Mississippi,  South  Carohna,  and 

*  A  very  full  report  of  the  establishment  of  these  first  institutions  may 
be  found  in  the  first  "  Eeport  of  the  United  States  Commissioner  of  Educa- 
tion," Hon.  Henry  Barnard,  1867-'68,  pp.  133-309. 


234  THE  PERIOD  OF  REORGANIZATION. 

Georgia  (in  part),  since  1880.  There  are  now  forty-eight 
schools  operating  under  the  act.  In  most  of  the  States 
South,  the  institutions  founded  have  been  opened  since 
1870  ;  Tennessee,  Virginia  (at  Hampton),  and  Kentucky 
only,  beginning  before  that  time.  Massachusetts,  Missis- 
sippi, Missouri,  Virginia,  and  South  Carolina,  have  each 
two  schools.  In  Georgia  the  fund  was  divided  among  six 
institutions.  In  twenty-two  States  the  instruction  required 
is  provided  by  State  colleges  or  universities.  The  other 
institutions  are  independent  schools  of  science.  Twenty- 
four  of  the  forty-eight  institutions  admit  women  on  equal 
terms  with  men. 

The  whole  area  of  land  appropriated  was  nine  million 
six  hundred  thousand  acres.  Not  all  of  it  has  been  sold,  but 
the  amounts  realized  aggregate  something  over  seven  mill- 
ion dollars,  an  average  endowment  to  each  State  of  nearly 
two  hundred  thousand  dollars.  Almost  as  much,  however, 
has  been  received  from  other  sources ;  about  six  million 
dollars  from  individual  benefactions.  Two  thirds  of  the 
schools  have  experimental  farms,*  averaging  about  three 
hundred  acres  each. 

Mr.  Scott  Russell  concludes  that  the  complete  agricultural 
school  should  teach  technically  the  following  subjects  and 
their  immediate  applications  to  the  business  of  farming,  in 
both  its  fixed  and  commercial  aspects  :  1,  Surface  geology; 
2.  Anatomical  botany ;  3.  Physiology ;  4.  Agricultural 
chemistry;  5.  Comparative  anatomy;  6.  Animal  physi- 
ology ;  7.  Veterinary  medicine  and  surgery  ;  8.  Land-sur- 
veying; 9.  Leveling;  10.  Practical  mechanics;  11.  Agri- 
cultural economy  and  plans;  12.  Agricultxiral  geography; 
13.  Tlieoretical  mechanics ;  14.  Elements  of  mechanism  ; 
15.  Technical  botany.  Alongside  of  this  ideal  and  admi- 
rable course  are  presented  two  actual  courses  as  they  are 

*  An  act  of  Congress  approved  March,  1887,  provides  for  an  annual 
appropriation  "  to  establish  agriculture  experiment  stations  in  connection 
with  the  colleges"  established  under  the  above-named  act. 


TECHNOLOGICAL  EDUCATION. 


235 


followed  in  Massacliiisetts  and  Colorado.  These  are  fairly- 
representative  of  their  respective  sections,  and  illustrate  the 
work  under  widely  differing  conditions. 


Massachusetts. 

Colorado. 

Freshman  year : 

Freshman  year : 

Chemistry. 

Human  physiology. 

Botany. 

Botany. 

Agriculture. 

Algebra. 

Algebra. 

Geometry. 

Geometry. 

Drawing. 

Drawing. 

English. 

English. 

French. 

Book-keeping. 

History. 

Sophomore  year  : 

Sophomore  year : 

Geology. 

Zoology. 

Zoology. 

Botany, 

Horticulture. 

Agricultiire. 

Agriculture. 

Siurveys  and  leveling. 

Surveys  and  leveling. 

Geometry.                 '\^, 

Geometry. 

Trigonometry. 

Trigonometry. 

Drawing. 

Drawing. 

History. 

History. 

English. 

English. 

French. 

Chemistry. 

Physics. 

Mechanics. 

Junior  year : 

Junior  year : 

Practical  chemistry. 

Agricultural  chemistry. 

Entomology. 

Entomology. 

236 


THE  PERIOD  OF  REORGANIZATION. 


Junior  year : 
Physics. 

Horticulture  and  gardening. 
Stock  and  dairy. 
Mech.anics. 
Astronomy. 
Drawing. 

Eoads  and  railroads. 
Agricultural  debate. 
German. 


Junior  year  : 
Physics. 
Horticulture. 


Senior  year : 
Practical  chemistry. 
Microscopy. 
Botany. 
Agriculture. 
Landscape-gardening. 
Veterinary  science. 
Eoads  and  railroads. 
Rural  law. 
Book-keeping. 
History. 

English. 
Mental  science. 


English. 

Physiology, 
Meteorology. 

Senior  year : 


Botany. 

Landscape-gardening. 
Veterinary  science. 


United  States  Constitution, 
and  political  economy. 

Mental  science ;  logic ;  ethics. 

Stock-breeding. 

Shop  mechanics. 

Astronomy. 

Domestic  economy. 


With  a  general  correspondence,  especially  in  the  first 
two  years,  there  is  considerable  divergence,  growing  out  of 
the  different  social  and  commerical  and  physical  surround- 
ings, very  natural  from  a  pedagogical  point  of  view,  and 
suggestive  of  intelligent  control. 


TECHNOLOGICAL  EDUCATION".  237 

4.  Military  and  Naval  Education. 

The  need  for  trained  soldiers  and  seamen  was  early  felt 
in  this  country.  The  War  for  Independence  had  been  a 
school  of  tactics.  Its  heroes  were  the  countiy's  teachers. 
The  war  closed,  their  influence  was  still  held  for  the  main- 
tenance of  some  school  which,  in  the  words  of  Washington, 
should  keep  the  nation  "  supplied  with  an  adequate  stock  of 
military  knowledge." 

Although  the  Military  Academy  was  formally  instituted 
at  West  Point,  in  1802,  the  idea  was  poorly  appreciated.  It 
was  a  school  in  name  only,  and  scarcely  military.  It  had 
little  system,  because  no  purpose.  Following  the  second 
war  with  England,  it  was  reorganized,  a  course  of  study  de- 
vised, and  its  discipline  prescribed  much  as  it  remains  to-day. 
The  conditions  of  admission  which  then  required  only  that 
the  candidate  be  "  well  versed  in  reading,  writing,  and  arith- 
metic," now  include  in  addition  a  knowledge  of  the  ele- 
ments of  English  grammar,  descriptive  geography,  particu- 
larly of  our  own  country,  and  the  history  of  the  United 
States.  The  new  coiu'se  of  study,  besides  English  grammar, 
geography,  and  history,  each  occupjdng  one  year,  was  made 
to  include  also  two  years  of  French,  algebra,  geometry  and 
logarithms,  geometrical  constructions,  mensuration,  plane 
and  spherical  trigonometry,  conic  sections,  natural  and 
experimental  philosophy,  astronomy,  engineering,  and  eth- 
ics. As  will  be  seen,  it  furnished  a  substantial  mathemat- 
ical drill,  and  one  of  the  earliest  expansions  of  the  cur- 
riculum on  the  side  of  science  to  be  found  in  this  coun- 
try. It  was  still,  however,  chiefly  academic,  and  only 
indirectly  or  secondarily  contributed  to  the  fixing  of  a 
military  science.  The  present  curriculum  is  more  special- 
ized, and,  while  affording  an  admirable  general  discipline, 
has  a  decided  scientific  and  technological  bias,  and  particu- 
lar fimctions.  As  set  forth  in  the  official  regulations  (1883) 
it  embraces  : 

1.  Infantry,  artillery,  and  cavalry  tactics ;  target-practice ; 
IG 


238  THE  PERIOD  OF  REORGANIZATION. 

military  police  and  discipline;  use  of  the  sword,  bayonet, 
and  gymnastics. 

2.  Mathematics. 

3.  English,  French,  and  Spanish  languages. 

4.  Chemistry,  chemical  physics,  mineralogy,  geology. 

5.  Natural  and  experimental  philosophy. 

6.  History,  geography,  and  ethics. 

7.  National,  international,  and  military  law. 

8.  Ordnance,  gunnery,  and  the  duties  of  a  military  lal 
ratory. 

9.  Practical  military  engineering. 

10.  Civil  and  military  engineering  and  the  science  of 
"war. 

The  courses  in  mathematics  and  physics  are  comprehen- 
sive, and,  in  forming  the  general  merit  roll,  rank  in  relative 
value,  with  civil  and  military  engineering  and  the  science 
of  war,  the  highest  in  the  course.  The  subjects  and  their 
order  are  prescribed,  and  the  discipline  is  founded  upon  an 
absolute  authority.  Election  has  no  place  in  the  four  years 
academic  or  military  training.  The  instruction  from  a  tech- 
nological standpoint,  is  of  a  high  order,  and  commands  gen- 
eral confidence.  It  was  recently  said  by  Greneral  Hazen, 
"  After  seeing  much  of  European  armies,  I  believe  that,  at 
the  opening  of  our  civil  war,  our  little  regular  army  was 
officered  by  better  technical  soldiers  than  any  other  army  ia 
the  world — due,  I  believe  to  West  Point," 

Tlie  object  of  the  institution  is  not  civil  but  martial  life. 
It  is  "neither  metaphysical  discussion  nor  hair-splitting 
argument  on  the  law,  in. which  the  young  men  are  expected 
to  excel.  They  are  to  have  the  sterner  arguments  of  the 
battle-field;  to  arrange  squadrons  for  the  hardy  fight;  to 
acquire  that  profound  knowledge  of  the  science  and  mate- 
rials of  nature,  which  should  fit  them  for  the  complicated 
art  of  war ;  to  defend  and  attack  cities ;  to  bridge  rivers ;  to 
make  roads;  to  provide  armaments;  to  arrange  munitions ; 
to  understand  the  topography  of  countries ;  and  to  foresee 
and  provide  all  the  resources  necessary  to  national  defense." 


TECHNOLOGICAL  EDUCATION.  239 

The  number  of  cadets  is  prescribed  by  law,  as  follows: 

1.  One  for  each  congressional  district. 

2.  One  for  each  Territory. 

3.  One  for  the  District  of  Columbia. 

4.  Forty  whom  the  President  may  appoint,  ten  each  year, 
from  the  country  at  large.  The  selection  is  by  competitive 
examination,  and  includes  both  physical  and  intellectual 
capacity. 

After  the  manner  of  the  United  States  Military  Academy 
were  soon  established  similar  institutions  elsewhere,  under 
State  or  local  or  private  control.  The  first  of  these  was  the 
"  American  Literary,  Scientific,  and  Military  Academy  "  at 
Norwich,  Vermont,  in  1820.  Fifteen  years  later,  two  were 
opened  at  Portsmouth  and  Lexington,  Virginia,  the  latter  of 
which  became  the  Virginia  Military  Institute,*  is  still  in 
existence,  and,  next  to  the  West  Point  school,  the  largest,  and 
most  flourishing  military  institution  in  the  United  States,  and 
besides  ranks  high  as  an  engineering  school.  In  the  years 
before  the  war,  also,  were  founded  the  South  Carolina  Mili- 
tary Academy  (1842),  the  Kentucky  Military  Institute  (1845), 
and  the  Lotdsiana  State  University,  which  had  been  estab- 
lished upon  a  military  basis  (1860),  and  of  which,  at  the 
breaking  out  of  the  war,  General  W.  T.  Sherman  was  presi- 
dent. 

Since  the  last,  Pennsylvania  and  Michigan  have  organ- 
ized academies ;  and  the  national  Government  an  "  Artillery 
School"  at  Fortress  Monix)e,  Virginia  (1867),  an  "Infantry 
and  Cavalry  School "  at  Fort  Leavenworth,  Kansas  (1882), 
and  the  "  ArtiUery  School "  at  Fort  Eiley,  Kansas  (1886) .  The 
cmriculum  of  the  last  covers  two  years,  and  includes,  besides 
literary  studies,  the  construction  and  service  of  artillery  and 
material,  gunnery,  and  mathematics  as  applied  in  the  artil- 
lery service,  and  lectures  upon  the  organization,  use,  and 
application  of  artillery ;  the  duties  of  artillery  troops  in  cam- 

*  "  Stonewall "  Jackson  was  for  some  years  a  professor  in  this  institu- 
tion. 


246  THE  PERIOD  OF  EEORGANIZATION. 

paigns  and  sieges;  the  construction  of  guns,  carriage  and 
other  material ;  and  upon  military  law  and  military  history.* 

Reference  has  already  been  made  to  the  Morrill  Land 
Grant  Act  (1862),  one  of  whose  provisions  was  for  instruction 
in  military  tactics.  The  original  act  was  amended  four  years 
later,  providing  for  a  special  detail  of  oflScers  of  the  army  to 
give  instruction  in  drill  and  tactics  in  the  higher  literary 
and  other  educational  institutions  of  the  country.  Under 
the  provisions  of  this  act  more  than  one  hundred  and  fifty 
officers  have  been  reported  as  giving  instruction  for  longer 
or  shorter  periods  in  colleges  in  two  thirds  of  the  States. 

But  nautical  training  in  the  mean  time  has  not  been 
ignored.  In  this  modern  day  of  commerce  and  the  brother- 
hood of  races,  no  people  can  be  national  without  being  at 
the  same  time  maritime.  Other  things  equal,  the  strength 
of  a  people  is  the  strength  of  its  bond  with  other  people.  A 
mastery  of  the  seas  means  not  only  power  abroad,  but  vigor 
at  home.  If,  then,  domestic  industry  and  social  and  profes- 
sional life  demand  a  preparation,  not  less  a  life  on  the  sea 
and  commerce  with  nations. 

The  United  States  was  fifty-six  years  old  before  the  first 
formal  instruction  of  her  seamen.  The  department  of  the 
navy  had  been  created  in  1798,  and,  in  imitation  of  the  Eng- 
lish custom,  chaplains  of  the  ships  were  required  to  act  as 
schoolmasters.  Fifteen  years  after,  it  was  ordered  that  each 
of  a  number  of  new  ships  should  carry  an  instructor ;  but 
he  was  merely  a  chaplain  worked  over,  with  only  a  chance 
fitness  for  his  position,  and  in  no  wise  supported  in  his 
teaching. 

Better  provision  was  recommended  (1814)  by  President 

♦  The  Government  also  provides  instruction  in  the  branches  usually 
taught  in  the  common  schools,  at  nearly  every  one  of  the  one  hundred  and 
twenty  military  posts  in  the  United  States.  The  day-school  is  open  to  all 
the  children  at  the  station.  A  night-school  is  usually  maintained  for  such 
enlisted  men  as  desire  to  attend.  The  teachers  also  are  enlisted  men,  who 
are  detailed  for  the  purpose,  with  extra  pay.  (From  a  private  letter  by  Chap- 
lain George  Bobinson,  in  charge  of  education  in  the  United  States  Army. ) 


I 


TECHNOLOGICAL  EDUCATION.  241 

Madison,  as  it  had  been  before,  and  was  afterward  by  others, 
but  "  the  United  States  had  not  yet  learned  the  fact,"  says 
Prof.  Saley,  "  that  a  nation  with  a  large  commerce  is  bound 
to  do  its  part  in  maintaining  the  police  of  the  ocean."  In- 
struction was,  of  course,  given  all  these  years  and  long  after 
at  the  navy-yards  or  on  board  cruising  ships.  The  former 
were  at  New  York,  Philadelphia,  and  Norfolk.  In  1835  there 
were  three  ships  which,  seven  years  later,  had  thirteen  in- 
structors of  mathematics  alone.  At  the  navy-yards  there 
were  twice  as  many.  At  this  time  Prof.  Chauvenet  was  in 
charge  at  Philadelphia,  and  was  a  man  in  a  thousand.  He 
was  a  master,  both  as  teacher  and  scholar.  In  1845  George 
Bancroft  became  Secretary  of  the  Navy.  After  years  of  com- 
promises, the  Government  had  found  a  man  who  was  equal 
to  the  situation.  He  asked  for  no  legislation.  He  only  pro- 
posed to  use  the  power  he  had  and  make  the  most  of  it.  A 
school  on  shore  was  projected,  whose  instruction  shoidd  in- 
clude both  theoiy  and  practice,  and  embrace  besides  aca- 
demic studies,  the  law  of  commerce,  marine  surveyiag,  ord- 
nance, gunnery,  and  the  use  of  steam.  A  half-dozen  of  the 
most  efficient  of  his  force  were  selected,  the  rest  were  retired, 
and  there  was  opened  at  Annapolis,  Maryland,  in  1845,  a 
school  which  became,  under  Chauvenet  and  others,  five  years 
later,  the  United  States  Naval  Academy. 
The  present  course  includes : 

1.  Naval  tactics  and  practice  in  seamanship. 

2.  Mathematics,  navigation,  astronomy,  land  and  nauti- 
cal surveying,  and  dra\ving. 

3.  Natural  and  exi)erimental  philosophy,  mechanics,  the 
construction  and  management  of  the  steam-engine. 

4.  Chemistry,  mineralogy,  and  geology. 

5.  Gunnery  and  infantry  tactics. 

6.  Modern  languages. 

7.  Ethics. 

Besides  the  instruction  afforded  at  the  Naval  Academy, 
there  is  also  the  Nautical  School  on  board  the  St.  Mary's 
vessel  at  Brooklyn,  seventy  per  cent  of  whose  five  hundred 


242       THE  PERIOD  OF  REORGANIZATION. 

graduates  have  become  seamen,  and  that  on  the  California 
training-ship  Jamestown.  The  University  of  Michigan  gives 
annually  a  course  of  lectures  on  naval  architecture  in  which 
are  discussed  the  resistance  of  ships,  speed,  buoyancy,  sta- 
bility, wave-motion,  etc.  In  Massachusetts,  towns  are  au- 
thorized by  law  to  establish  schools  for  training  young  men 
in  nautical  duties. 

The  Naval  War  College  at  Newx)ort,  Rhode  Island,  is  a 
school  of  graduate  instruction  for  officers  of  the  navy.  It 
was  opened  in  1884,  with  a  greatly  specialized  but  withal  a 
comprehensive  course  of  technical  instruction  in  military 
and  naval  science.  It  embraces  (1)  the  science  and  art  of 
war;  (2)  law  and  history.  Under  the  first  are  taught  (a) 
strategy  and  tactics ;  (b)  military  campaigns,  (c)  joint  mili- 
tary and  naval  operations,  (d)  the  management  of  seamen  in 
military  operations,  and  (e)  elements  of  fortification  and  in- 
trenchment — all  from  the  military  point  of  view;  supple- 
mented by  (/)  naval  strategy  and  tactics,  (g)  naval  cam- 
paigns, and  (h)  joint  military  and  naval  operations,  from  the 
naval  standpoint.  Under  the  second  are  embraced,  (a)  in- 
ternational law,  (6)  treaties  of  the  United  States,  (c)  rules  of 
evidence,  (d)  general  naval  history,  and  (e)  modem  political 
history. 

Bibliography. 

"Scientific  Schools  in  Europe,  considered  with  reference  to  their 
Adaptation  to  America,"  Dr.  D.  C.  Oilman,  Barnard's  "  American  Jour- 
nal of  Education,"  voL  ii ;  "  Art  Education — Scholastic  and  Industrial," 
Walter  Smith,1873 ;  "  Report  on  Industrial  Education,"  Senate  document, 
1883 ;  "  Report  on  Technical  Education  in  the  United  States  and  Can- 
ada," by  the  English  Commission,  1884 ;  "  A  New  Principle  in  Education — 
Development  of  the  Constructive  Faculty,"  Felix  Adler,  "  Princeton  Re- 
view," 1883  ;  the  same  reviewed  and  criticised  in  the  "Presbyterian  Re- 
view," January,  1884 ;  "  Education  in  its  Relation  to  Industry,"  Arthur 
McArthur,  1884 ;  "  Industrial  Education,  a  Pedagogical  and  Social  Neces- 
sity," P.  Scidel,  1887 ;  "  Industrial  Training,"  "  Forum,"  April,  1887  ;  the 
"Progress  of  Industrial  Education,"  P.  C.  Garrett,  1883  ;  "The  Modem 
Polyteclinic   School,"  inaugural    address  of    Dr.  C.  0.   Thompson,  of 


EDUCATION  OF  UNFORTUNATES.        243 

Rose  Polytechnic  Institute,  1883;  "Technical  Instruction  in  America," 
J.  H.  Rigg, "  Contemporary  Review,"  August,  1884  ;  "  Technology  and  Pub- 
lic Education,"  C.  0.  Thompson,  before  Michigan  State  Teachers'  Associ- 
ation, 1884;  "  Manual  Training,"  Charles  Ham,  1886;  "Manual  Train- 
ing," C.  M.  Woodward,  1887  ;  "  Manual  Training,"  by  Colonel  Augustus 
Jacobson,  "Proceedings  of  the  National  Educational  Association,"  1884, 
p.  293  ;  "  Manual  Training,"  Felix  Adler,  ibid.,  p.  308  ;  the  "  New  York 
Trade  School";  "Report  of  Massachusetts  Board  of  Education,  1884 ; 
"  Naval  Education,"  D.  D.  Porter,  the  "  United  Service  Magazine,"  July, 
1879. 


CHAPTER  XIV. 

EDUCATION  OF  UNFORTUNATES  AND  CRIMINAL  CLASSES. 

The  idea  of  education  in  its  economic  aspect,  as  a  means 
of  reforming  the  offending  classes,  while  not  new,  has  a 
larger  field,  and,  in  the  different  ethical  standards  of  the 
time,  more  favorable  conditions  for  its  growth.  No  intelli- 
gent person  supposes  that  a  limited  education  is  a  sure  cure 
or  prevention  of  crime,  but  that,  other  things  equal,  the 
advance  in  general  intelligence  means  higher  measures  in 
conduct ;  and  the  frequent  reform  of  the  viciously  inclined, 
if  taken  early,  may  be  proved  by  history  for  a  hundred 
years.  The. idea  itself  is  not  recent ;  but  faith  in  the  prin- 
ciple such  as  seeks  to  make  the  regenerative  influences  of 
a  right  education  common  to  all  the  class  is  altogether 
modern. 

So  also  it  may  be  said  that  care  for  the  dependent  classes, 
as  charity  to  the  unfortunate  and  needy,  is  a  characteristic 
of  recent  civilization.  But  other  than  this  and  indefinitely 
superior  is  the  attempt  to  enlarge  their  intellectual  horizon. 
Brotherly  kindness  has  fed  and  clothed,  sheltered  and  pro- 
tected them  in  all  ages  of  civilization.  But  provisions  for 
their  education,  not  only  as  mental  improvement,  but  train- 
ing them  to  self-support,  and  as  lifting  them  out  of  the 


244  THE  PERIOD  OF  REORGANIZATION. 

pauper  class,  point  to  a  higher  and  more  recent  interest. 
The  blind,  deaf-mutes,  minor  orphans,  imbeciles,  the  insane, 
vagrants,  and  young  and  uncared-for  offenders  against  so- 
ciety, all,  speaking  broadly,  belong  to  the  same  non-produc- 
tive class,  a  drain  upon  society,  except  they  be  given  pos- 
session of  their  remaining  powers,  and  a  mastery  of  nature 
by  patient,  intelligent  training. 

In  this  class,  also,  are  to  be  considered  the  Indians  in 
large  part,  and  their  education  in  learning,  industry,  and  the 
"ways  of  civilized  life. 

1.  Deaf -Mute  Education. 

Even  the  oldest  records  of  teaching  the  deaf  are  recent. 
Among  the  ancients,  regarded  as  under  a  curse,  or  idiotic, 
or  at  best  so  deficient  in  intellect  as  to  be  irresponsible, 
they  were  deban-ed  from  all  civil  rights.  Even  Blackstone 
held  *  that  a  man  who  is  bom  deaf,  dumb,  and  blind  is  to  be 
regarded  "in  the  same  state  with  an  idiot." 

The  first  systematic  attempt  to  instruct  them  was  by 
Pedro  Ponce  de  Leon,  in  Spain,  in  1550.  Seventy  years 
after,  was  published  a  simple  alphabet.  By  the  middle  of 
the  century  the  system  was  introduced  into  England  ;  lip- 
reading  was  described  by  a  Hollander  about  the  same  time, 
and  before  1700  the  two-hand  alphabet  was  invented.  But 
for  two  centuries  from  the  time  of  Ponce  de  Leon,  the  interest 
veas  wholly  benevolent  and  individual.  In  1774,  at  Leipsic, 
was  opened  a  government  school.  Such  American  deaf-mutes 
as  received  any  instruction  were  sent  to  England.  In  the 
year  1815,  however,  Rev.  T.  H.  Gallaudet,  a  recently  ordained 
minister  in  Connecticut,  interested  in  the  deaf-mute  child  of 
his  neighbor,  undertook  her  instruction.  The  attention  of 
others  gained,  steps  were  taken  to  found  an  institution. 
Mr,  Gallaudet  was  made  director.  He  at  once  visited  the 
schools  of  England  and  Scotland,  and  spent  three  months 
with  Sicard  in  Paris.    Immediately  upon  his  return  there 

*  "  Commentaries,"  Book  I,  chapter  viiL 


EDUCATION  OF  UNFORTUNATES.  245 

was  opened  at  Hartford  "  The  Connecticut  Asylum  for  the 
Education  of  Deaf  and  Dumb  Persons."  The  State  Legisla- 
ture appropriated  five  thousand  dollars.  Private  means  did 
most.  Later,  Congress  granted  the  institution  twenty-three 
thousand  acres  of  land,  vs^hose  proceeds  form  a  part  of  the 
present  endowment,  and,  upon  the  assumption  that  the  one 
institution  would  be  sufficient  to  accommodate  the  deaf- 
mutes  of  the  country  at  large,  the  name  was  changed  to 
the  "  American  Asylum  for  Deaf -Mutes  at  Hartford."  But 
many  children  were  found  so  affected,  and  in  1818  the  New 
York  Institution  was  opened  as  a  day-school,  and  for  several 
years  was  under  the  direction  of  the  State  Superintendent,  as 
were  other  public  shools. 

Following  these  were  established  similar  asylums  in 
Pennsylvania  (1821),  Kentucky  (1823),  Ohio  (1827),  Illinois 
(1837),  Vu-ginia  (1839),  Indiana  and  Tennessee  (1847),  North 
Carolina  and  Georgia  (1845),  and  South  Carolina  (1849) — 
twelve  in  all,  in  as  many  States,  in  thirty  years. 

There  are  now  sixty-one  institutions  in  thirty-five  States 
(Delaware,  Louisiana,  Nevada,  New  Hampshire,  and  Ver- 
mont, arranging  for  the  education  of  their  deaf  in  adjoin- 
ing States),  two  Territories — New  Mexico,  and  Utah,  and  the 
District  of  Columbia.  Eleven  States  have  two  or  more  each ; 
New  York  has  six,  and  Missouri  four.  These  schools  enroll 
in  the  aggregate  nearly  eight  thousand  pupils,  and  represent 
an  expenditure  of  a  million  and  a  haK  of  dollars.  More  than 
half  of  them  are  public  institutions,  and  all,  with  perhaps 
half  a  dozen  exceptions,  receive  State  (or  municipal)  aid. 
Yet  a  large  majority  of  them  requu'e  tuition  fees,  and  are  so 
made  exclusive  or  pauper  establishments. 

In  deaf-mute  instruction  two  methods  are  chiefly  used ; 
that  of  De  I'Epee,  the  sign  method,  introduced  by  Gallau- 
det,  and  in  exclusive  use  in  this  country  for  fifty  years.  It 
includes  writing,  and  teaches  by  means  of  objects,  gestures, 
and  arbitrary  symbols.  The  other  is  the  German  or  articu- 
lation method,  and  involves  lip-reading.  This  begins  with 
the  voicing  of  simple  sounds,  slowly  and  distinctly  by  the  in- 


246  TDE  PERIOD  OF  REORGANIZATION. 

structor,  whose  motions  are  carefvilly  watched  by  the  pupil, 
and  afterward  imitated.  Other  sounds  follow  in  the  inverse 
order  of  their  difficulty.  The  method  was  first  introduced  into 
the  United  States  by  the  Clarke  Institution,  Northampton, 
Massachusetts,  in  1867.  Since  its  successful  use  there  it  has 
been  introduced  elsewhere,  noticeably,  and  with  equal  re- 
sults, by  the  "  New  York  School  for  Improved  Instruction," 
founded  soon  after,  by  the  Boston  Day-School,  and  others. 

Besides  these  establishments  for  elementary  instruction, 
there  was  chartered  in  1857,  and  opened  seven  years  later,  at 
Washington,  in  connection  with  the  Columbian  University 
the  "  National  Deaf -Mute  College  "  for  advanced  instiniction. 
It  offers  the  usual  college  course,  and  uses  the  same  text- 
books. The  Iowa  school  also,  besides  the  usual  elementary 
graded  courses,  has  advanced  academic,  art,  and  industrial 
departments. 

Concerning  industrial  training  it  need  only  be  said  that 
all  schools  provide  it  in  some  form,  and  there  are  few  posi- 
tions in  life  which  the  well-taught  individuals  of  this  class 
may  not  fill  to  public  profit  as  well  as  personal  credit.  The 
industrial  exhibits  of  deaf-mutes  at  recent  expositions  are  a 
monument  to  their  skill  and  intelligence.* 

2.  Education  of  the  Blind. 

There  are  estimated  to  be  about  thirty  thousand  blind  in 
the  United  States ;  of  these,  less  than  thi-ee  thousand  are  re- 
ported as  receiving  any  formal  instruction.  The  attempt 
to  provide  for  their  education,  while  older  than  that  of  the 
deaf  in  Europe,  was  introduced  into  the  United  States  fifteen 
years  later.  The  "  Hospital  for  the  Three  Hundred,"  founded 
in  Paris  in  1260,  was  only  an  asylum,  no  attempt  being  made 
at  systematic  mental  training  prior  to  Valentine  Haiiy,  the 
"  Apostle  of  the  Blind,"  who  in  1786  published  a  relief  print, 

*  At  New  Orleans  (1885)  eighteen  institutions  made  exhibits  of  both  lit- 
erary and  industrial  products,  the  latter  Inoluding  needlework,  printing, 
shoemaking,  carpentry,  photography,  drawings,  and  fine  art. 


EDUCATION  OF  UNFORTPNATES.  247 

and  five  years  later  opened  a  school  for  the  blind.  This,  re- 
ceiving the  king's  sanction  and  favor,  became  afterward  the 
"  Royal  Institution  of  Fi-ance,"  and  has  been  followed  by 
many  others  in  the  intervening  century :  first  in  Germany, 
then  in  Russia,  England,  Scotland,  and  the  United  States. 
To  Dr.  S.  Ct.  Howe — educator  and  philanthropist,  whose 
name  is  inseparably  associated  with  the  work  in  the  United 
States — belongs  also  the  honor  of  its  introduction.  The 
Perkins  Institution  in  Boston  (1832)  did  for  the  blind  of 
New  England  and  the  East  what  the  American  Asylum  at 
Hartford  acomplished  for  deaf-mutes.  Others  were  immedi- 
ately founded,  one  in  New  York  the  same  year,  and  another 
in  Philadelphia  the  year  following.  By  the  middle  of  the 
century,  there  were  eleven.  There  are  now  thirty-two  such 
institutions  in  thirty  States ;  the  blind  of  Connecticut,  Dela- 
ware, Maine,  Nevada,  New  Hampshire,  New  Jersey,  Rhode 
Island,  and  Vermont,  being  accommodated  in  neighboring 
schools ;  and  New  York  and  Maryland  having  two  institu- 
tions each. 

All  reputable  schools  of  this  class  afford  instruction  in 
most  subjects  of  the  average  curriculum  of  secondary  insti- 
tutions, including  a  full  course  in  mathematics,  the  lan- 
guages, and  history,  the  philosophical  studies,  and  some- 
thing of  natural  science.  To  this  are  generally  added  some 
form  of  industrial  training  and  always  music.  The  one  is 
given  as  part  of  the  general  culture  which  every  child  needs, 
not  less  than  as  a  means  to  intellectual  growth ;  the  other  as 
satisfying  the  pectdiar  need  incidental  to  blindness. 

That  the  industrial  training  called  for  is  neither  insignifi- 
cant in  character  nor  seriously  restricted  in  variety,  appears 
from  the  occupations  of  the  educated  blind.*  In  a  late  re- 
port of  the  United  States  Commissioner  of  Education,  the  fol- 
lowing statistics  are  given ;  and,  while  it  is  not  supposed  that 

*  At  the  New  Orleans  Exposition  the  exhibit  of  the  blind  was  quite 
remarkable.  A  dozen  institutions  in  this  country  were  represented,  and 
twice  as  many  forms  of  industry — all  from  children. 


248 


THE  PERIOD  OF  REOEGAXIZATION. 


the  list  is  complete  in  any  particular,  it  is  suggestive  of  the 
industrial  importance  of  the  class : 

Occupations  of  Hie  Blind. 


Superintendents  of  institutions. .  *16 
Teachers  in  schools  not  for  the 

blind 62 

Teachers  of  the  blind tl35 

Ministers 36 

Studying  or  practicing  law 5 

Authors 17 

Publishers 8 

Agents  and  lecturers 10 

General  teachers  of  music 463 

Church  organists 88 


Piano-tuners 125 

Composers  and  publishers  of  mu- 
sic   14 

Graduates  from  colleges 17 

Manufacturing 305 

Handicraftsmen 702 

Merchants 269 

Fanners 59 

Newsdealers 7 

Dealers  in  instruments 6 

Horse-dealers. 9 


It  appears  that  about  seven  hundred,  or  nearly  one  third 
of  the  whole,  have  to  do  with  music — next  to  handicraft,  the 
largest  single  interest.  Education  along  this  line  is  of  para- 
mount importance.  It  is  on  the  side  of  culture  and  refine- 
ment and  the  growth  of  the  gentler  feelings,  and  very  prop- 
erly forms  a  part  of  every  course. 

Fundamentally,  all  literary  training  rests  upon  the  ability 
to  read.  Two  principal  alphabets  have  been  designed,  both 
employing  the  fingers.  In  the  one  are  used  raised  letters, 
either  in  the  common  or  some  slightly  modified  form.  The 
other  makes  use  of  dots  or  points,  raised  also,  but  not  resem- 
bling the  letter  in  any  way.  A  modification  of  the  latter — a 
system  of  point-writing  and  printing — is  the  one  generally 
in  use  in  the  United  States.  In  1856  it  was  said  there  were 
but  forty-six  books  for  the  blind  published  in  English ;  now 
there  are  three  large  publishing-houses  in  this  coxintry  alone. 
The  point-system  has  also  been  applied  to  musical  notation. 

No  study  of  the  blind  in  this  country,  their  education, 
the  means  employed,  and  their  success,  would  be  in  any 
sense  complete  that  failed  to  include  the  case  of  Laura 


*  This  includes  half  of  all  the  schools  for  the  blind  in  the  United  States, 
t  One  fourth  of  all  the  teachers  employed. 


EDUCATION  OF  UNFORTUNATES.        249 

Bridgraan.  A  deaf-mute,  and  blind,  and  .her  other  senses 
impaired,  the  limitations  of  her  life  have  scarcely  been 
equaled  in  the  world's  experience,  much  less  the  marvelous 
results  of  her  education.  The  case  has  been  repeatedly  and 
admirably  described,  but  must  remain  of  perennial  interest.* 
What  she  became,  one  is  tempted  to  say,  Dr.  Howe  made  her. 
The  story  of  her  training  should  be  familiar  to  every  teacher. 
"  His  work,"  says  Prof,  Hall  (referring  to  Dr.  Howe),  "  was  so 
ingenious  and  successful  that  it  remains  one  of  the  greatest 
triumphs  of  pedagogical  skill ;  and  his  studies  of  his  pupil 
during  the  most  interesting  period  of  her  education  may 
be  called  almost  classical  for  the  psychologist. " 

S.  Education  of  tJie  Feeble-Minded. 

Fifteen  States  f  have  made  permanent  provision  for  the 
respectable  maintenance,  education,  and  training  of  those 
of  feeble  minds.  In  these  States  are  nineteen  schools  and 
homes,  with  nearly  four  thousand  inmates,  all  of  whom, 
with  one  exception  (the  New  York  State  Custodial  Asylum 
for  Feeble-Minded  Women),  are  children. 

These  schools  are  provided  with  over  four  hundred  teach- 
ers and  a  course  of  training  which,  while  chiefly  industrial, 
usually  comprises,  according  to  the  capacity  of  the  children, 
something  of  language,  calculation,  and  the  use  of  the  pen- 
cil. Though  this  must  be  meager,  the  importance  of  sys- 
tematic and  persistent  and  iiniform  intellectual  exercise, 
simple  as  may  be,  but  with  an  intelligent  purpose,  can  not 
be  overestimated.  Next  to  this,  possibly  jfirst  in  importance, 
because  more  available  is  the  industrial  training,  the  ability 

*  A  second  ca.se,  promising  to  be  of  scarcely  less  interest,  is  .that  of  Helen 
Keller,  of  Alabama — a  second  Laura  Bridgman — a  report  of  whose  condi- 
tion and  intellectual  beginnings  may  be  found  in  the  "  Annual  Report  of 
the  Perkins  Institution,"  Boston,  for  1887.  A  notice  appears  in  "  Science," 
also,  February  24, 1888. 

t  California,  Connecticut,  Illinois,  Indiana,  Iowa,  Kansas,  Kentucky, 
Maryland,  Massachusetts,  Michigan,  Minnesota,  Nebraska,  New  York, 
Ohio,  and  Pennsylvania. 


250  THE  PERIOD  OF  REORGANIZATION. 

to  use  the  organs  of  the  body,  to  subordinate  them  to  the 
simple  purposes  of  the  mind,  the  use  of  tools  and  implements, 
and  a  knowledge  of  things. 

In  the  Illinois  Institution  and  a  few  other  schools  Kinder- 
garten exercises  have  been  tried  with  the  most  marked  and 
satisfactory  results. 

4.  Reformatories. 

It  has  been  said  that  institutions  for  reformatory  educa- 
tion began  in  this  country  as  "Houses  of  Refuge";  that, 
later,  they  were  called  "  Reform  Schools,"  both  names  being 
discarded  in  the  more  recently  established  institutions  of 
like  functions — "Industrial  Schools."  In  its  unqualified 
form  the  statement  is  misleading,  though  true  to  the  spirit 
of  progress.  The  significance  attaching  to  it  seems  to  be 
that  the  institutions  described  are  coming  to  be  more  and 
more  educative,  and  so  regenerative,  rather  than  merely  cor- 
rectional and  retributive.  Discipline  through  growth  is  su- 
perior to  any  coercion.  Besides,  not  all  institutions  so 
called  are  for  the  vicious  and  law-breaking.  The  system 
includes  as  well  the  unfortunate,  the  homeless,  the  evilly- 
surrounded,  the  idle  and  vagrant,  the  needy.  And,  wheth- 
er the  term  used  be  "Houses  of  Correction"  or  "Indus- 
trial Schools,"  "Orphans'  Homes"  or  "Houses  of  Deten- 
tion," "  Farm-Schools,"  "  Reformatories,"  or,  as  in  France, 
"  Correctional  Colonies,"  or  "  Ragged  Schools,"  as  in  Eng- 
land and  Scotland,  or  by  whatever  name,  they  concern  a 
body  of  necessitous  youth  of  both  sexes,  not  always  nor 
usually  of  the  criminal  class,  but  numerous  and  danger- 
ous, except  their  impetuous  energies  be  directed  into  whole- 
some service. 

The  contemporary  reformatory  institution  in  this  coun- 
try dates  from  the  year  1820,  in  the  founding  of  the  New 
York  House  of  Refuge,  on  Randall's  Island.  This  does 
not  imply  that  no  previous  care  had  been  had  and  ex- 
ercised in  behalf  of  wayward  youth.  Plymouth  Colony, 
in  1658,  had  "joyned  to  the  prison  a  House  of  Correc- 


EDUCATIOX  OF  UNFORTUNATES.  251 

tion,"  *  and  other  communities  and  States,  and  every  gen- 
eration, perhaps,  had  felt  the  danger  and  sought  to  stay  it; 
but  action  was  local  and  temporary.  The  Plymouth  ex- 
periment bore  no  fruit  in  similar  institutions,  and  was  itself 
soon  abandoned.  The  New  York  "House"  originated  in 
the  efforts  of  Edward  Livingston  and  others,  and  was  purely 
philanthropic. 

The  Boston  House  of  Reformation  was  established  in  1826, 
and  one  in  Philadelphia  two  years  later.  For  almost  twenty 
years  these  seem  to  have  been  regarded  as  local  experiments, 
and  not  generally  understood.  Then  came  the  "Isaac  T. 
Hopper  Home "  and  "  Western  House  of  Refuge,"  both  in 
New  York,  and  an  institution  for  boys  at  New  Orleans. 
All  these,  it  should  not  be  lost  sight  of,  had  been  instituted 
by  individual  beneficence  and  philanthropy,  and,  though 
receiving  occasional  aid  from  the  State,  they  were  yet  pri- 
vate institutions,  or  privately  founded  and  managed  by  cor- 
porations. In  the  year  1848  was  established  at  Westborough, 
Massachusetts,  a  State  Reformatory,  and  that  it  was  the  right 
and  policy  of  the  State  to  care  for  this  class  soon  came  to 
be  common  sentiment.  Similar  institutions  were  directly 
opened  in  Pennsylvania,  Maine,  Connecticut,  New  Hamp- 
shire, and  Ohio,  followed  since  by  other  States  both  West 
and  South. 

Of  Reform  Schools  proper  there  are  sixty  in  twenty-five 
States.  These  have  approximately  fifteen  thousand  inmates, 
supported  at  an  annual  cost  to  the  public  of  two  million  dol- 
lars. Besides  these,  there  are  from  four  to  five  hundred 
"  Homes  "  and  asylums  for  orphans,  dependent  and  vagrant 
children,  which,  since  the  Charleston  (South  Carolina) 
"  Home,"  1790,  have  housed  and  reared  and  educated  half  a 
million  children.  Of  the  Industrial  Reform  Schools,  eighty- 
three  per  cent  are  State  or  municipal.  The  former  are 
chiefly  public  ;  of  the  latter  more  than  half  are  denomina- 
tional.    The  establishment,  following  the  war,  of  homes  for 

*  "Plymouth  Colony  Eocords,"  vol.  iii,  p.  137. 


252  THE  PERIOD  OF  REORGANIZATION. 

soldiers'  orphans,  and  the  recent  provision  of  some  of  the 
Western  States  to  furnish  separate  care  for  almshouse  chil- 
dren, have  greatly  increased  the  enrollment  in  these  insti- 
tutions. 

In  all  of  them,  whether  reformatory  or  preventive  only, 
three  phases  of  training  seem  not  only  desirable  but  neces- 
sary. The  nature  of  the  instruction  here,  also,  must  be  de- 
termined by  the  class  want. 

First,  there  are  needed  habits  of  industry.  This  is  uni- 
versally admitted,  and  has  led  everywhere  to  the  introduction 
and  pursuit  of  farm  and  shop  and  household  exercises — ex- 
ercises in  the  practice  of  which  may  be  taught,  if  not  trades 
and  special  businesses,  at  least  the  principles  of  industry  and 
the  busy  habit.  These  are  great  conservers  of  purity,  and, 
from  pedagogical  motives  only,  to  have  fixed  these  tenden- 
cies is  so  much  fundamental  gain.  A  few  of  these  schools 
have  farms,  thirty  institutions  reporting  somewhat  of  agri- 
culture and  more  of  gardening.  In  most  of  the  institutions 
for  girls,  house-work  is  required  ;  laundry  and  tailoring  in 
twenty-four,  and  in  these  and  others  shoemaking,  cane-seat- 
ing, carpentry,  smithing,  etc. 

To  furnish  a  second  kind  of  training,  as  the  basis  of 
all  other  instruction,  and  as  a  means  of  literary  and  aca- 
demic drill,  the  common  branches  are  taught,  of  which,  be- 
sides reading  and  arithmetic,  history  and  drawing  and  mu- 
sic, for  obvious  reasons,  are  emphasized.  The  schools  report 
in  the  aggregate  fifty  thousand  volumes  in  their  libraries, 
which,  weU  selected  and  used  under  intelligent  guidance,  are 
an  important  factor  in  tlieir  education. 

As  a  third  fimction  of  these  schools,  if  anything  be  ac- 
complished, they  are  called  to  establish  right  ethical  senti- 
ments, and  develop  standards  of  conduct.  This  is  efifected 
slowly,  if  at  all,  and  only  by  virtue  of  the  wisest  foresight 
and  patience.  Toward  the  fixing  of  such  moral  and  restrain- 
ing influences,  transferring  authority  from  without  to  within, 
perhaps  nothing  has  been  more  generally  eflBcient  than  the 
school-room  discipline  :  the  habit  of  regular  and  instant  obe- 


EDUCATION  OF  UNFORTUNATES.        253 

dience  ;  subordination  to  authority  for  a  common  interest ; 
the  general  spirit  of  co-operation  ;  the  growth  of  a  class 
sympathy  ;  the  frequent  self-sacrifice,  and  the  rendering  of 
services  to  companions  and  teachers  ;  and  the  constant  fa- 
miliarity with  the  moderation  of  impulses  and  frankness  of 
demeanor  which  the  well-regulated  school-room  uniformly 
teaches. 

Altogether,  the  right  management  and  discipline  of  these 
classes — almost  one  hiuidred  thousand  of  them  in  the  schools, 
and  a  larger  number  yet  without — constitute  one  of  the  most 
serious  economic  and  educational  problems  of  the  day. 

5.  Indian  Education. 

X.   THE   COLONIAL   PERIOD. 

Outside  of  New  England  and  the  other  Atlantic  colonies, 
the  earliest  attempts  to  educate  the  Indian  were  by  the  Cath- 
olics. Father  Juan  Roger  in  Carolina,  in  1568,  and  Bena- 
vides,  among  the  Pueblos  of  the  Southwest,  half  a  century 
later,  began  the  work  of  teaching  the  savage  reading  and  the 
productive  arts  of  life.  In  the  early  part  of  the  last  century 
Spanish  missions  were  established  among  the  Indians  of 
southern  California,  whose  descendants  are  known  as  "Mis- 
sion Indians."  *  The  first  colonies  on  the  Eastern  coast  were 
founded  upon  land-grants  in  which  care  for  the  Indian  was 
one  of  the  stipulations.  The  charter  of  the  Virginia  Com- 
pany, and,  fiif  teen  years  later,  the  supplementary  acts  of  the 
Colonial  Assembly,  specified  as  one  of  their  functions,  "  the 
enlargement  of  God's  kingdom  among  the  heathen  people." 
"  That  the  Christian  faith  may  be  propagated  among  the 
Western  Indians,"  was  one  of  the  reasons  assigned  for  the 
founding  of  the  College  of  William  and  Mary  ;  and  for  a 
hundred  years  the  organization  of  the  college  included  an 
Indian  school.    For  many  years  also  prior  to  the  Revolution 

*  See  Helen  Hunt  Jackson's  "  A  Century  of  Dishonor,"  and  "  Ro- 
mona"  ;  also,  report  by  Mrs.  Jackson  to  the  United  States  Indian  Com- 
missioner, 1883,  and  one  by  Prof.  C.  C.  Painter,  1887. 

IT 


254  THE  PEllIOD  OF  REORGANIZATION. 

William  and  Mary  shared  with  Harvard  a  bequest  of  Hon. 
Robert  Boyle*  "for  maintaining  and  educating  Indian 
scholars." 

Soon  after  the  founding  of  Harvard,  the  General  Court 
of  Massachvisetts  ordered  "  that  the  county  courts  in  their 
jurisdiction  take  care  that  the  Indians  of  the  several  shires 
be  civilized,"  and  about  the  same  time  was  begun  the  great 
work  of  John  Eliot,  teaching  them,  learning  their  language, 
translating  the  Bible,  and  setting  them  off  into  towns.f 
"  They  must  be  civilized,"  he  said,  "  as  well  as,  if  not  in  order 
to  their  being,  Christianized."  The  mantle  of  Eliot  seems  to 
have  fallen  upon  Eleazer  Wheelock,  who  in  1743  opened  in 
his  own  house  a  school,  which  for  many  years  he  main- 
tained at  his  own  expense,  feeding,  clothing,  and  schooling 
Indian  children  from  the  neighborhood.  This  was  followed 
ten  years  later  by  Moore's  Indian  Charity  School,  enrolling 
fifty  to  sixty  children  annually  vintil  about  1770,  when  it 
was  merged  into  and  became  the  nucleus  of  the  newly 
founded  Dartmouth  College.  Hamilton  College,  New  York, 
had  a  similar  origin  (1812). 

Up  to  this  time  the  effort  to  educate  the  Indians  had 
been  almost  wholly  individual,  much  scattered,  and  entirely 
without  concert  or  plan.  Next  to  Eliot's  labora  and  Moore's 
Charity  School  the  work  with  the  Oneidas  in  New  York 
through  and  after  the  Revolution  was  probably  most  eflBcient. 
The  descendants  of  this  tribe  in  New  York  and  Wisconsin 
are  said  to  be  practically  self-supporting,  having  their  own 
churches  and  schools,  owning  their  lands,  and  being  fairly 
industrious.  Following  the  Catholic  missions,  Protestant 
churches  sought  and  found  numerous  fields  for  both  re- 
ligious and  secidar  service.  The  Moravians  early  in  the 
eighteenth  century  and  the  Quakers  near  the  close,  Episco- 

♦  Died  1691. 

t  Whatever  may  be  thought  of  the  wisdom  of  Eliot's  methods,  these 
fourteen  "  praying  towns "  have  an  historic  interest  wholly  apart  from 
their  reli^^ious  aim. 


EDUCATION  OF  UNFORTUNATES.  255 

palians,  Methodists,  Baptists,  Presbyterians,  and  numerous 
union  and  Indian  missionary  associations,  have  many  fold 
increased  the  efforts  to  serve  the  Indian.  Sometimes  the 
service  has  added  to  his  knowledge  aad  happiness,  some- 
times to  his  knowledge  only.  The  best  meant  offices  have 
not  unfrequently  been  the  most  short-sighted  and  irra- 
tional. All  that  had  been  accomplished  at  the  opening  of 
the  century  was  to  show  that  the  average  Indian  was  not 
lacking  either  in  ability  (intellectual)  or  skill.  It  remained 
to  be  seen  whether  he  have  the  requisite  flexibility  of 
temper,  the  adaptability  to  take  on  the  co-operative  and 
confiding  habit  of  civilized  life. 

B.   GOTEENHEKT   CONTROL. 

For  half  a  century  the  almost  uniform  attitude  of  the 
Government  toward  the  red  man  was  one  of  military  do- 
minion. Nominally  the  administration  has  been  by  civil- 
ians ;  but  the  policy  has  not  generally  been  a  civilizing  one. 
Coercion  and  treachery  and  neglect  have  sometimes  taken 
the  place  of  m«rture  and  fidelity  and  the  wise  forbearance 
that  mark  true  teaching.* 

From  the  first,  Congress  was  supposed  to  exercise  a  sort 
of  supervision  over  the  race,  neither  knowing  how  nor  seek- 
ing, however,  to  establish  fixed  relations  of  comity  or  helpful- 
ness. About  1820  was  made  an  appropriation  of  ten  thousand 
dollars  called  the  civilization  fund,  which  was  for  many  years 
the  only  Grovernment  aid  to  Indian  education.  The  Indian 
Bureau,  at  present  belonging  to  the  Department  of  the  In- 
terior, was  created  in  1833.  Not,  however,  till  the  so-called 
"  peace  policy  "  of  President  Grant's  Administration  was  any 
particular  emphasis  placed  upon  education.  The  positive 
course  of  Government  then  and  subsequently,  and  the  co- 

*  An  Indian  visiting  Washington  in  1880,  being  called  upon,  made  the 
following  speech  to  official  listeners  :  "  Four  years  ago  the  American  people 
promised  to  be  friends  with  us.  They  lied.  That  is  all." — "  Eeport  of 
the  Bureau  of  Ethnology,"  18r9-'80,  p.  520. 


256       TDE  PERIOD  OF  REORGANIZATION. 

operation  with  existing  agencies,  mark  the  beginning  of  In- 
dian education  as  now  known. 

In  order  to  understand  the  present  conditions  it  is  neces- 
sary to  recall  certain  administrative  facts.  Prof.  Painter 
summarizes  the  Grovemment  Indian  policy  under  three  heads : 
"  treaties,  the  reservation  and  agency  systems,  and  the  ad- 
ministrative and  judicial  departments  at  Washington." 

Of  the  first,  General  Sherman  is  quoted  as  saying,  "  We 
have  made  more  than  a  thousand  treaties  with  various  In- 
dian ti'ibes,  and  have  not  kept  one  of  them."  ♦ 

Growing  out  of  the  treaty  system,  and  as  a  part  of  the 
inevitable  accompanying  compromises,  are  the  "reserva- 
tions." These  amount  in  the  aggregate  to  more  than  212,- 
000  square  miles,  t  Of  this  policy  the  almost  uniform  testi- 
mony is  that  it  is  irredeemably  vicious.  "  The  resei^ration 
line  is  a  wall  that  fences  out  law,  civil  institutions,  and  social 
order,  and  admits  only  despotism,  greed,  and  lawlessness." 

Supplementing  this  treaty-reservation  policy  is  the  agency 
system,  whereby  each  reservation  is  provided  with  a  Gov- 
ernment representative,  resident  and  supreme.  That  almost 
unlimited  power  held  as  a  political  reward  easUy  degener- 
ates into  a  source  of  abuses  must  be  expected. 

So  general  had  become  the  impression  that  the  first  of  these 
was  a  mistake,  that  Congress  in  1871  enacted  that  thereafter 
"  no  Indian  nation  or  tribe  within  the  territory  of  the  United 
States  shall  be  acknowledged  or  recognized  as  an  independ- 
ent nation,  or  tribe,  or  power,  with  whom  the  United  States 
may  contract  by  treaty."  And  seven  years  later,  equally 
pei-suaded  of  the  viciousness  and  general  unfairness  of  the 
reservation  policy,  CJongress  passed  the  "  General  Iiand  in 
Severalty  Bill,"  authorizing  the  President  of  the  United 
States,  according  to  his  judgment,  to  allot  the  land  in  any 
reservation  to  the  Indians  located  thereon. 


*  Address  of  Prof.  C.  C.  Painter,  Mohawk  Lake  Conference,  1886. 
t  The  one  single  reserration  of  the  Indian  Territory  is  larger  than  all 
New  England. 


EDUCATION  OF  UNFORTUNATES.        257 

So  much  has  been  said  the  better  to  exhibit  the  little  that 
is  known  of  the  purely  educational  work  being  done  among 
the  Indians.  The  problem  is  a  complex  one  and  far  from 
present  settlement.  Abused  confidence  among  them,  the 
disorders  growing  out  of  a  common  ownership  in  land,  the 
evils  of  a  machine-made  agency,  a  large  enforced  idleness, 
and  the  dissipation  incident  to  unaccustomed  modes  of  life, 
negative  the  best  results.  It  is  not  too  much  to  say  that  for 
no  single  year  in  the  history  of  this  question  has  the  full 
civilizing  force  of  the  simplest  education  had  room  to  be 
felt.  Further,  the  elevation  of  a  people  from  a  wandering 
him^ter's  life  to  a  settled  industrial  one  is  a  matter  not  of  a 
year  or  years,  but  of  generations.  In  such  a  process  education 
requires  more  than  books  and  forms.  Even  the  restraints  of 
an  agricultural  life  may  be  too  exacting.  The  nearest  in- 
dustry that  suits  his  taste,  lying  on  the  side  toward  civiliza- 
tion is,  pedagogically  speaking,  the  lesson  next  to  be  learned. 
But  the  conventionalities  of  the  new  life  must  also  be 
learned.  As  one  of  the  conditions  of  any  general  co-opera- 
tion the  language  of  their  surroimdings  must  be  known, 
means  of  intercourse  and  record  adopted,  new  attitudes  of 
mind  and  desire ;  and  the  part  of  education  most  essential  is 
"  making  one  understand  what  kind  of  place  this  world  is, 
what  one's  relations  to  it  are,  and  consequently  his  rights, 
duties,  and  responsibilities."  * 

That  this  is  the  kind  of  education  the  Indians  are  every- 
where getting  nobody  supposes.  That  individual  schools, 
and  individual  pupils  in  many  schools,  are  getting  it,  can 
scarcely  be  denied.  And  it  is  by  the  elevation  of  individuals 
that  races  are  civilized. 

C.    CONTEMPORARY    INDIAN    SCHOOLING. 

Since  1882  there  has  been  a  special  "  Education  Division  " 
in  the  Indian  Bureau.  The  first  superintendent  was  Mr.  J. 
M.  Haworth,  who  at  his  death  (1885)  was  succeeded  by  the 

*  W.  G.  Sumner,  "  The  Forum,"  May,  1887,  p.  260. 


258       THE  PEHIOD  OF  REORGANIZATION. 

present  incumbent,  Hon.  J.  B.  Eiley.  Besides  reservation 
Indians  and  the  five  civilized  tribes  in  the  Indian  Territory 
— two  classes  with  which  the  present  consideration  is  chiefly 
concerned — there  are  the  remnants  of  the  Six  Nations  in 
New  York,  scattering  settlements  in  half  a  dozen  other  States 
east  of  the  Mississippi  River,  and  those  in  tribal  relations,  no 
account  of  which  will  be  here  taken. 

The  Indian  school-i>opulation  aggregates  nearly  thirty- 
nine  thousand,  scattered  over  nineteen  States  and  Territo- 
ries, with  a  school  enrollment  of  about  sixteen  thousand, 
and  a  daily  attendance  of  thirty-four  per  cent.  When  it  is 
considered  that  but  forty-one  i)er  cent  of  the  school  census 
of  cities  throughout  the  United  States  are  daily  in  school, 
the  success  among  Indian  children  seems  surprisingly  great. 
If  the  centers  of  civilization,  with  from  fifty  years  to  two 
centuries  of  school  experience,  and  resting  upon  a  civiliza- 
tion reaching  back  to  Alfred  the  Great,  may  take  pride  in  so 
little,  what  hope  may  not  be  cherished  of  the  future  of  the 
Indian  ? 

As  appears  from  the  table,  Indian  schools  are :  1.  Those 
under  the  immediate  charge  of  the  Indian  Ofiice,  about  sev- 
enty per  cent  of  all.  2.  Those  for  whose  support  special 
appropriations  are  regularly  made,  but  which  are  not  man- 
aged directly  by  the  Biu-eau.  3.  A  class  of  schools  chiefly 
maintained  by  missionary  or  church  organizations,  or  under 
private  endowment,  but  schooling  a  definite  number  of  In- 
dian children  by  agreement  with  the  Department.  These 
are  the  "  Contract  Schools  " — item  three  in  the  table.  4,  The 
schools  of  the  Indian  Territory.  Besides  these  there  are  a 
few  schools  in  the  far  West,  chiefly  maintained  by  societies 
or  individuals,  with  uncertain  support,  and  from  which  only 
imperfect  statistics  are  to  be  had. 

(1)  Bureau  Schools. 

The  first  class  are  under  the  general  management  of 
Superintendent  Riley.  They  comprise  boarding,  day,  and 
industrial  training  schools — numbering  one  hundred  and 


EDUCATION  OF  UNFORTUNATES.        259 

sixty-tliree.  The  boarding-schools  have  about  half  of  all 
the  pupils.  In  the  industrial  schools,  and  in  the  boarding- 
schools,  indeed,  ave  taught  the  common  processes  of  farming 
and  related  tasks — dairying,  stock-raising,  fencing,  building, 
ditching,  and  domestic  management  and  service  ;  in  some 
of  them  blacksmithing,  carpentry,  etc.  At  Standing  Rock, 
Dakota,  there  is  an  Agricidtural  School,  having  a  farm  with 
one  hundred  and  fifty  acres  under  cultivation,  and  about 
sixty  pupils  ;  and  an  industrial  boarding-school  with  twice 
the  enrollment.  The  Normal  and  Training  School  at  Santee 
Agency,  Nebraska,  is  particularly  worthy  of  note.  It  was 
organized  in  1870,  and  gives  instruction  in  reading,  writing, 
drawing,  arithmetic,  English  composition,  geography,  his- 
tory, physiology,  and  music.  From  this,  and  from  the  Hamp- 
ton and  Carlisle  schools,  have  been  furnished  a  large  number 
of  Indian  young  men  and  women  as  teachers  to  other  agen- 
cies. A  graduate  of  the  Hampton  school  is  principal  of 
the  Shawnee  boarding-school,  another  at  Pawnee,  etc.  At 
Chilocco,  two  educated  Kiowa  girls  and  a  Comanche  In- 
dian man  have  the  local  management.  The  normal  school 
referred  to  accommodates  both  sexes.  It  has  an  industrial 
department,  with  thirteen  instructors,  and  provides  train- 
ing in  carpentry,  smithing,  shoemaking,  brick-making,  and 
farming  for  the  boys,  and  housekeeping  and  related  tasks 
for  the  girls.  It  has  thirteen  teachers  in  the  academic 
school,  uses  eighteen  buildings,  and  enrolls  over  two  hun- 
dred students. 

Both  the  Pine  Ridge  Indians  and  the  Osages  have  com- 
pulsory education  laws  of  their  own  construction  and  en- 
forcement, pronounced  the  "best  ever  devised."  A  child's 
absence  from  school,  except  for  good  reasons,  cuts  off  the 
rations  for  the  whole  family.  The  Osages,  a  rich  tribe,  with 
landed  possessions  and  large  money  annuities,  in  their  own 
Coimcil  (1883),  and  not  directly  influenced  by  the  United 
States  authorities,  provided  for  an  attendance  of  not  less 
than  six  months  yearly.  The  school  age  is  generally  from 
six  to  sixteen  years. 


260 


THE  PERIOD  OF  REORGANIZATION. 
Indian  Schools. 


KIND  OF  INDIAN  SCHOOLS. 

it 

<3 

jl 

|i 

t 

1.  In  charce  of  Indian  Bureau  : 
a.  Boarding-schoole 

68 
90 
5 

5,050 
8,135 
1,455 

5,4*4 
3,115 
1,573 

4,111 
1,890 
1,342 

$548,787  65 
59,678  80 

b.  Day-schools 

c.  Industrial  training-ecliools 

243,089  12 

Total  Bureau  schools 

163 

9,640 

500 
180 
175 
150 
850 
200 
250 

200 

10,172 

7,849 

$851,555  57 

a.  Carlisle  Training,  Carlisle,  Pa 

617 
197 
215 
160 
839 
218 
205 

186 

647 

106 
171 
116 
273 
200 
185 

170 

$81,000  00 

h.  Chilocco  Training,  Chilocco,  Ind.Ter. 

c.  Genoa  Training,  Genoa,  Neb 

d.  Hampton  Institute,  Hampton,  Va.... 

e.  Haskell  Institute,  Lawrence,  Kan 

/.  Lincoln  Institution,  Philadelphia,  Pa. 

a.  Salem  Training,  Chemawa,  Or 

.... 

28,-544  64 
81,264  77 
19,382  79 
61,  .5.32  00 
a3,.364  10 
40,747  71 

A.  St.  Ignatius  Mission.  Flathead  Res., 
Mont 

22,500  00 

Total  special  schools 

8 

2,005 

2,137 

1,828 

$318,336  01 

41 
20 

2,733 
843 

2,553 
1,044 

2,081 
604 

$238,445  58 
10,777  53 

b.  Day-schools 

Total  contract  schools 

61 

3,576 

3,597 

2.685 

$239,223  11 

Total  Indian  schools 

233 

15,221 

15,906 

11,862 

$1,409,114  69 

(2.)  Special  Schools. 

Of  special  institutions  belonging  to  the  second  class 
named,  there  are  four  training-schools — at  Carlisle,  Penn- 
sylvania, Chilocco,  Indian  Territory,  Grenoa,  Nebraska,  and 
Chemawa,  Oregon — the  Hampton  Institute,  Virginia,  and 
the  Haskell  Institute,  Lawrence,  Kansas;  the  Lincoln  Insti- 
tution, Pliiladelphia ;  and  the  St.  Ignatius  Mission,  on  the 
Flathead  Reservation,  Montana.  The  first  of  all  these  so 
recognized  was  that  at  Carlisle,  Pennsylvania.  Captain 
R.  H.  Pratt,  being  put  in  possession  of  seventy -four  Indian 
prisoners  at  St.  Augustine  (1875),  undertook  their  education. 
At  first  chiefly  industrial,  upon  the  removal  of  the  school  in 
1879  to  Carlisle,  formal  instruction  was  begun  in  literary 
branches  as  well,  and  with  the  number  more  than  doubled. 
They  are  taught,  besides  books,  carpentry,  harness-making, 
shoemaking,  blacksmithing,  carriage-making,  tin  smithing, 
baking,  sewing,  laundrying,  and  farming.    The  course  at 


EDUCATION  OF  UNFORTUNATES.  261 

Hampton  and  tlie  Western  schools  is  much  the  same.  At 
Carlisle  has  been  recently  introduced  a  device,  possibly 
adopted  elsewhere,  for  acquainting  Indian  youth  with  the 
ways  and  insights  and  conventionalities  of  civilized  life.  It 
is  known  as  "  outing,"  and  consists  in  putting  into  farmers' 
families  boys  and  girls  who  have  had  a  partial  training  in 
the  school.  They  remain  on  the  farm  from  a  few  months 
to  a  year,  receive  nominal  wages,  are  admitted  to  the  family, 
and  not  unf  requently  attend  the  district  school  of  the  neigh- 
borhood. Of  nearly  six  hundred  in  attendance,  more  than 
half  have  been  so  accommodated.  At  Hampton  Normal  and 
Agricultural  Institute  about  one  fifth  of  the  six  hundi'ed 
students  are  Indians,  the  others  negroes.  All  receive  pay 
for  work,  at  the  rate  of  five  to  eight  cents  an  hour. 

(3.)  Contract  Schools. 

Two  thirds  of  the  schools  of  this  class  are  boarding- 
schools,  well  represented  in  the  White's  Institutes,  at  Wa- 
bash, Indiana,  and  Mount  Hamill,  Iowa.  Both  have  large 
fanns  and  shops,  and  accommodate  each  from  fifty  to 
seventy-five  Indian  children,  besides  a  small  number  of 
whites. 

The  former  are  received  from  various  reservations  and 
tribes,  and  educated  for  a  definite  period  at  a  stipulated  price 
under  contract  with  the  Government  Bureau.  They  include 
pupils  from  the  Sioux,  Wyandottes,  Senecas,  Modocs,  Peorias, 
Miamis,  Comanches,  and  perhaps  a  dozen  others,  of  both 
sexes,  and  varying  in  age  from  eight  to  eighteen  years. 

(4.)  Education  in  Indian  Territory. 

The  civilized  tribes  of  the  Territory  embrace  the  Chero- 
kees,  Choctaws,  Chickasaws,  Creeks,  and  Seminoles.  Each 
has  an  independent  school  system,  both  of  common  and  sec- 
ondary instruction,  and  in  the  English  language  only.  Most 
of  the  teachers  are  educated  Indians.  There  are  sustained 
boards  of  education,  directors,  superintendents  of  public 
schools,  and  an  annual  teachers'  institute  for  each  nation. 


2G2  TnE  PERIOD  OF  REORGANIZATION. 

In  the  management  the  local  neighborhood  provides  the 
house  and  furniture;  the  nation,  the  books  and  teachers. 

In  the  elementary  schools,  the  Five  Nations  enroll  over 
eight  thousand  pupils ;  in  the  secondary  schools,  fifteen  hun- 
dred. The  Cherokees  and  Chickasaws  each  maintain  an 
orphan  school  and  asylum,  that  of  the  former  having  one 
hundred  and  fifty  inmates.  The  Creeks  and  Cherokees,  as 
a  i)art  of  their  system,  support  separate  schools  for  the  four 
hundred  to  six  hundred  negro  children  among  them.  Co- 
education of  the  races,  while  the  exception,  is  not  uncom- 
mon. The  Choctaws  and  Creeks  have  maintained  regularly 
from  forty  to  fifty  of  their  youth  at  colleges  in  the  States ; 
and  Dr.  T.  A.  Bland  is  authority  for  the  statement  that 
"  there  is  not  in  the  Cherokee  nation  an  Indian  man,  woman, 
or  child  of  sotmd  mind,  fifteen  years  of  age  or  over,  who  can 
not  read  and  write." 

Out  of  a  school  population  of  fifteen  thousand  the  Five 
Nations  provide  regular  instruction  for  more  than  nine  thou- 
sand, or  sixty-two  per  cent.  This  is  a  more  general  partici- 
pation in  the  benefits  of  the  public  schools  than  was  enjoyed 
in  the  States  of  Alabama,  Arkansa-s,  California,  Florida, 
Kentucky,  Louisiana,  Maryland,  New  Jersey,  New  York, 
North  Carolina,  or  Virginia,  for  the  same  year. 

6.  Education  in  Alaska. 

Alaska  is  so  far  away  from  most  of  the  States,  so  little  is 
known  of  its  people,  so  habitually  do  we  associate  them  in 
our  thoughts  with  the  American  Indians,  that  the  education 
of  the  Territory  is  scarcely  regarded  even  by  school-men  as 
belonging  to  our  system.  And  yet  there  are  towns  whose 
adult  illiteracy  can  be  in  many  cases  paralleled  in  large  sec- 
tions east  of  the  Mississippi  River,  and  whose  schools  have 
developed  a  skill  that  strongly  hints  at  Yankee  competition. 
For  half  a  century  before  its  purchase  by  the  United  States 
there  were  maintained  by  the  Russians  boarding  and  day 
schools,  elementary  and  advanced  for  both  sexes ;  academies 
which  taught,  besides  the  usual  branches,  the  Slavonian  and 


EDUCATION  OF  UNFORTUNATES.  263 

English  languages,  higher  mathematics,  navigation,  and 
astronomy ;  and  a  theological  seminary. 

The  natives,  especially  the  Aleuts,  are  represented  as  su- 
perior intellectually  to  the  Indians,  belong  to  the  Eusso-Greek 
Church,  live  in  good  houses,  dress  in  American  garments, 
and  use  the  tools,  utensils,  and  means  of  culture  of  a  civil- 
ized home. 

Two  hundred  and  fifty  miles  to  the  northwest  of  Unimak 
Island  are  the  Pribylov  Islands.  In  1870  these  were  leased 
for  twenty  years  to  the  Alaska  Commercial  Company  for 
seal-fishing,  one  of  the  conditions  of  which  contract  was  that 
a  school  for  the  natives  should  be  maintained  on  each  isl- 
and, at  the  expense  of  the  company,  and  for  at  least  eight 
months  each  year.  From  a  recent  report  it  appears  that  out 
of  a  total  population  of  less  than  four  hundred  thgre  were 
enrolled  in  the  two  schools  seventy-five  children,  or  ninety- 
five  per  cent  of  the  minors.  The  flxst  successful  school  or- 
ganized and  maintained  by  the  Government  was  established 
at  Sitka  in  1880.  A  system  of  compulsory  education  was 
inaugurated  and  enforced,  and  within  a  year  the  school  had 
two  hundred  and  fifty  pupils.  A  boarding-school  for  girls 
opened  at  Fort  Wrangel  about  the  same  time,  being  removed 
to  Sitka,  was  united  with  the  former,  under  the  organization 
of  a  Government  Industrial  and  Training  School.  The 
school  population  numbers  between  five  and  six  thousand, 
of  whom  twelve  hundred  are  enrolled  in  thirteen  schools. 
A  number  of  these  are  denominational  or  missionary  enter- 
prises. In  1885  there  was  created  the  office  of  "General 
Agent  of  Education  in  Alaska,"  and  Mr.  Sheldon  Jackson 
appointed  to  the  position. 

Bibliography. 

See  "Visible  Speech,"  by  Alexander  Melville  Bell,  1867;  "Education 
of  the  Blind — History  of  its  Origin,  Rise,  and  Progress,"  by  M.  Anagnos, 
1882;  "Life  and  Education  of  Laura  Dewey  Bridgman,"  by  Mary  Lam- 
son  (for  three  years  her  special  teacher),  1878;  "Laura  Bridgman,"  by 
G.  Stanley  Hall,  in  "  Aspects  of  German  Culture,"  1881.    See  also  sketch 


264:  THE  PERIOD  OF  REORGANIZATION. 

of  the  Perkins  Institution  for  the  Blind,  and  notice  of  Laura  Bridgman,  in 
Dickens's  "  American  Notes,"  chap.  iii.  See  "  The  Jukes,"  by  R.  L. 
Dugdale,  1877;  and  "Dangerous  Classes  of  New  York,"  by  C.  L.  Brace, 
1872 ;  "  Indian  Education,"  "  Proceedings  of  National  Education  Associa- 
tion," 1884,  p.  177;  "Latest  Studies  on  Indian  Reservations,"  by  J.  B. 
Ilarrison,  1887 ;  "  Education  in  Alaska,"  by  Sheldon  Jackson. 


CHAPTER  XV. 

SUPPLEMENTARY  INSTITUTIONS. 

1.  Private  Schools. 

In  a,3ketcli  of  public  education  in  a  new  country  private 
schools  might  fill  a  large  chapter,  for  it  is  almost  without 
exception  true  that  the  one  grew  out  of  the  other.  In  most 
localities  before  public  education  by  the  State  was  tolerated 
or  encouraged  its  benignant  influence  was  suggested,  and  its 
right  to  general  recognition  justified,  by  public-spirited  men 
and  women,  who  did  what  the  commimity  as  a  whole  would 
not  undertake. 

Private  enterprise  has  commonly  been  the  genesis  of  the 
public  institution.  Every  reform,  every  adoption  of  the 
new  and  promising  was  once  personal  opinion.  The  whole- 
some conservatism  of  government  throws  the  burden  of 
proving  a  thing  good  upon  individuals  and  societies.  The 
first  manual  training,  the  fu«t  Kindergartens,  the  first  em- 
phasis of  science,  were  born  of  personal  conviction,  grew 
alone  or  in  contracted  circles,  and  were  forced  to  wait  for 
public  recognition.  The  first  art  schools  and  galleries,  and 
museums  and  libraries  and  reading-rooms  ;  the  earliest  sur- 
veys and  explorations  ;  the  first  study  and  instruction  in 
agriculture  ;  the  first  Indian,  negro,  and  Alaskan  schools — 
were  all  the  product  of  individual  effort  or  private  co-opera- 
tion. So  the  beginnings  of  primary  schooling,  the  instruc- 
tion of  girls  and  the  higher  education  of  women,  were  even 


SUPPLEMENTARY  INSTITUTIONS.  265 

less  honored  than  the  "annex."  And,  equally  so,  the  com- 
mon school  had  its  birth  in  the  abounding  individual  enter- 
prise of  colonial  New  England  and  New  York  and  the 
South. 

Danyell  Maude,  the  first  private  schoolmaster  of  New 
England,  was  the  contemporary  of  "  Brother  Philemon  Piir- 
mont."  Father  Channing,  in  his  "Early  Recollections  of 
Rhode  Island,"  says  that  "  prior  to  1770  private  schools  were 
the  only  ones  that  were  continuous,  even  for  Providence 
and  Newport."  In  New  York,  throughout  the  State,  and 
into  the  present  century,  the  supplementary  services  of  indi- 
viduals were  the  impulse  that,  through  Governor  Clinton 
and  Gideon  Hawley,  eventually  brought  about  the  present 
public-school  system. 

Moreover,  in  many  States,  both  East  and  West,  even  after 
the  public  schools  were  begun,  the  private  schools  were  these 
public  schools  continued  by  subscription.  The  average 
length  of  the  school  year,  in  thirty-six  States  reporting,  is  a 
fraction  over  six  months.  Excluding  the  six  States — Mary- 
land, Massachusetts,  Connecticut,  New  York,  New  Jersey, 
and  Rhode  Island,  having  the  longest  terms  (nine  and  a  half 
months) — the  average  length  for  the  remaining  States  is 
barely  five  months.  In  these  States,  the  private  school 
comes  in  as  a  valuable  supplemental  agency  extending  the 
school  term  ;  not  unf  requently  continuing  the  same  teacher, 
and  by  common  consent,  if  not  by  law,  more  or  less  of  the 
same  supervision  and  the  established  course.  Besides  these 
also  there  is  a  class  of  secondary  schools  similar  in  grade  to 
the  public  high-school.  In  cities  these  take  the  form  of 
ladies'  seminaries,  or  boys'  classical  schools,  numbers  of 
which  may  yet  be  found,  especially  in  the  South  and  East. 

A  secondary  school  of  somewhat  different  character  is 
the  so-called  business  college.*    There  is  unquestionably  a 

*  The  Bryant  and  Stratton  "  International  Chain  of  Commercial  Col- 
leges," begun  a  quarter  of  a  century  ago,  many  of  which  remain  in  the 
larger  cities,  is  an  interesting  development  in  American  education. 


266  THE  PERIOD  OF  REORGANIZATION. 

sufificient  reason  for  its  existence.  General  Garfield  insisted 
that  "  business  schools  were  an  attempt  to  answer  the  public 
demand  for  a  practical  education  " — a  kind  of  materialized 
protest  of  the  provident  mind  against  the  too  cotnmon  un- 
practical education  of  the  elementary  schools.  The  public 
asks  a  really  available  culture. 

Out  of  environing  conditions,  and  the  constitutional  im- 
patience of  a  long  preparation,  have  been  evolved  the  trade 
school,  the  business  institute,  conmiercial  college,  etc.  Set- 
ting themselves  up  in  recent  years  as  professional  schools, 
now  chartered  and  authorized  to  issue  diplomas  and  confer 
degrees,  and  now,  in  the  fullness*  of  unlicensed  Philistinism, 
without  established  curriculum,  but  assuming  to  include  the 
circle  of  practical  knowledge — to  book-keeping,  penmanship, 
and  arithmetic  they  have  added  political  science  and  eco- 
nomics, commercial  law,  modern  languages,  phonography, 
telegraphy,  etc.  There  are  two  hundred  schools  of  the  class, 
with  almost  fifty  thousand  pupils. 

2,  Denominational  Schools. 

As  has  been  seen,  the  earliest  approaches  to  the  public 
school  in  this  country  were  among  a  people  who  strongly 
dissented  from  established  ecclesiastical  authority,  and,  in 
more  or  less  independent  religious  bodies,  sought  the  free- 
dom of  worship  and  intellectual  intercourse  that  they  were 
elsewhere  denied.  This  independent,  protesting  spirit,  an  un- 
willingness to  submit  to  anything  like  a  hierarchal  authority, 
has  everywhere  been  favorable  to  the  most  widely  diffused 
education.  Every  phase  of  literary  and  professional  and 
technical  institution  has  been,  in  turn  and  co-operation, 
made  to  contribute  to  the  general  intelligence.  In  the  line 
of  this  current,  co-operating  more  or  less  with  State  and  pri- 
vate agencies,  and  more  often  supplementing  them,  the 
Church  has  claimed  and  been  granted  a  place.  Most  Prot- 
estants use  the  public  schools  for  elementary  instruction, 
but  sustain  more  or  less  generally  their  own  institutions  for 
superior  and  sometimes  secondary  training. 


SUPPLEMENTARY  INSTITUTIONS.  26T 

Among  the  oldest  of  existing  denominations,  the  Meth- 
odists have  for  nearly  a  century  supported  church-schools. 
Their  first  permanent  college  *  was  the  now  venerable  Wes- 
leyan  University  at  Middletown,  Connecticut,  founded  in 
1831.  They  have  now  similar  institutions  in  every  section 
of  the  country,  and  for  a  decade  have  been  especially  active 
in  the  West  and  South.  These  comprise  ten  theological 
schools,  prominent  among  which  are  the  Boston  University 
School  of  Theology  and  the  Drew  Theological  Seminary  ; 
forty-five  colleges  and  sixty-one  classical  seminaries,  besides 
eight  female  colleges. 

Forty  years  before  the  Methodist  Cokesbury  School  in 
Maryland,  the  Presbyterians  had  founded  the  College  of 
New  Jersey  in  Princeton — not  only  one  of  the  oldest,  but 
now  one  of  the  solid  institutions  of  the  United  States,  Be- 
sides thirty-six  colleges,  Presbyterianism  supports  and  is  sup- 
ported by  thirteen  theological  schools,  well  represented  in 
Princeton,  Lane  Theological  Seminary,  Cincinnati,  and  the 
Theological  Seminary  of  the  Northwest  at  Chicago. 

Among  the  Baptists  are  thirty-four  colleges,  seven  theo- 
logical schools,  and  forty  to  fifty  academies  for  secondary 
instruction,  chiefly  in  the  South. 

As  the  school  system  started  among  the  Congregation- 
alists,  so  it  has  had  then*  constant  and  generous  support. 
Among  both  colleges  and  academies  they  have  a  large  repre- 
sentation. Of  the  former,  are  :  Harvard,  in  its  founding  ; 
Yale,  Dartmouth,  Williams,  Bowdoin,  Amherst,  Oberlin,  and 
the  later  Fiske ;  of  the  latter,  Andover  (theological  seminary), 
and  Phillips  Academies  at  Andover  and  Exeter  ;  besides 
Mount  Holyoke  and  Wellesley. 

But  all  other  denominational  service  in  education  is  par- 
tial and  irregular  compared  with  the  comprehensive  grasp 
of  the  Catholic  Church.  Their  aim  is  all-inclusive,  and  as- 
sumes no  other  agency.     Ignoring  the  public  school,  their 

*  Cokesbury  College,  at  Abingdon,  Maryland,  founded  1787,  being 
twice  burned,  was  not  afterward  rebuilt. 


268  THE  PERIOD  OF  REORGANIZATION. 

plan  is  coextensive  with  their  membership.  With  one  fifth 
of  all  the  theological  seminaries,  and  one  third  of  all  their 
students ;  with  one  fourth  of  the  colleges,  nearly  six  hun- 
dred academies,  and  twenty-six  "hundred  jiarochial  (ele- 
mentary) schools,  instructing  more  than  half  a  million 
children,  the  church  is  seen  to  be  a  force  which,  education- 
ally considered,  is  equaled  by  no  other  single  agency  but  the 
Government  itself.*  The  twelve  Catholic  provinces — Balti- 
more, Boston,  Chicago,  Cincinnati,  Milwaukee,  New  Orleans, 
New  York,  Oregon,  Philadelphia,  St.  Louis,  San  Francisco, 
and  Santa  Fe — are  subdivided  into  seventy-nine  dioceses. 
The  latter  average  from  thirty-five  to  forty  parishes,  each  of 
which  is  supposed  to  have  a  school  for  the  elementary  train- 
ing of  their  children.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  ninety-three  per 
cent  of  them  do  maintain  parochial  schools,  in  which  are 
educated,  generally  by  the  priesthood,  rarely  by  laymen 
(except  in  the  teaching  congregations),  the  511,063  pupils. 
In  addition  to  these  are  588  academies,  usually  for  girls,  and 
91  colleges,  t 

The  Theological  Seminary  of  St.  Sulpice,  Baltimore  (re- 
cently raised  to  the  rank  of  a  university,  and  authorized  to 
confer  degrees),  is,  according  to  the  "Catholic  Year-book," 
the  oldest  organization  for  theological  instruction  in  this 
country,  dating  from  1791.  To  the  Catholics,  also,  belong 
several  industrial  and  reform  schools,  orphans'  homes,  and 
normal  schools. 


*  For  a  statement  of  the  work  of  the  "  Brothers  of  the  CJiristian 
Schools"  see  "Education,"  November,  December,  1S85 ;  also  "Govern- 
ment Keport  of  the  Educational  Exhibits  and  Conferences  at  the  New  Or- 
leans Exposition,"  1885. 

t  The  comer-stone  of  a  Catholic  University  was  laid  in  May,  1888,  near 
Washington,  District  of  Columbia.  It  is  to  receive  its  students  from  the 
Catholic  colleges,  and  to  have  a  full  university  organization.  The  enter- 
prise was  started  by  a  gift  of  throe  himdred  thousand  dollars  from  a  Miss 
Caldwell,  of  New  York.  (See  the  announcement  in  "  American  Catholic 
Quarterly  Beview,"  April,  1885.) 


SUPPLEMENTARY  INSTITUTIONS.  269 

S.  Evening  Schools. 

The  evening  school,  as  found  in  our  large  cities,  is  a  very- 
natural  product  of  the  conditions.  There  are  two  classes  in 
whose  interest  it  exists  :  1.  For  children  who  can  not  be 
brought  into  the  system  of  day-schools  ;  and,  2.  For  (a)  men 
and  women  of  limited  education,  employed  during  the  day, 
but  ambitious  for  intellectual  and  industrial  improvement, 
or  (6)  recent  immigrants  who  wish  to  know  the  national 
language,  the  forms  of  business,  and  means  of  industry. 
Evening  or  night  schools,  like  elementary  industrial  schools, 
and  nautical  or  floating  schools,  are  illustrative  of  the  at- 
tempt constantly  making  to  adjust  the  public-school  forces 
to  the  public  needs.  How  well  it  has  been  accomplished 
can  only  be  suggested. 

The  first  evening  schools  were  probably  due  to  the  evils 
of  vagrancy,  and  to  the  truancy  of  children,  and  those  of 
school  age.  Again,  they  were  demanded  in  manufacturing 
towns,  and,  generally,  in  cities  for  messengers,  clerks,  and 
servants.  They  were  tried  in  New  York  city  in  1834,  but 
failed  for  want  of  teachers.  Fourteen  years  later  they  were 
successfully  established  by  the  Public  School  Society,  which 
within  two  years  had  fifteen  schools  and  eight  thousand 
pupils.  They  were  introduced  into  Boston  through  a  chari- 
table organization,  and  legalized  in  1857.  The  recent  growth 
of  the  system  has  been  rapid.  The  Chicago  enrollment  has 
more  than  trebled  in  five  years ;  and  those  of  New  York  and 
Philadelphia  doubled. 

For  the  most  part,  the  night-schools  in  the  United  States 
are  provided  for,  and  used  by,  the  maturer  classes  of  the 
young.  Indeed,  in  some  cities  they  are  oi)ened  to  men  and 
women  only,  or  to  children  beyond  the  compulsory  school 
age,  employed  during  the  day.  The  abundant  material  re- 
soixrces  of  the  country,  the  open  avenues  to  industry,  the 
power  implied  in  wealth  and  property,  drive  youth  into 
business  before  manhood  even ;  and,  under  the  most  guarded 
systems,  the  education  is  often  meager  and  unsatisfactory. 
18 


270  THE  PERIOD  OF  REORGANIZATION. 

To  give  these  the  opportunity  of  continuing  their  studies  is 
both  politic  and  beneficent.  New  York  maintains  a  large 
system  of  night-schools  for  this  class  chiefly.  With  an  en- 
rollment of  twenty  thousand,  one  half  of  them  are  between 
eighteen  and  twenty-one  years  of  age. 

For  the  classes  described  the  studies  are  chiefly  element- 
ary. They  include,  primarily,  writing  and  calculation  (in- 
cluding book-keeping),  grammar  and  physiology,  sometimes 
history,  and  always  drawing.  Occasionally  there  are  intro- 
duced the  elements  of  geometry  and  algebra ;  and  in  Cincin- 
nati general  history  and  elocution,  both  of  which  are  excluded 
from  the  Boston  course.  Perhaps  the  most  profitable  parts 
of  the  instruction  are  book-keeping  and  drawing.  For  cer- 
tain classes,  industrial  training  is  fundamental.  It  should  be 
borne  in  mind  that,  in  these  schools,  is  no  hard  and  fast 
course  of  study  to  which  all  are  held,  and  the  completion  of 
which  counts  for  advanced  standing,  Boston  only,  so  far  as 
appears,  has  made  any  successful  attempt  to  establish  a  grade. 
Usually,  upon  entrance,  each  applicant  chooses  his  work — it 
is  rarely  chosen  for  him,  even  by  advice.  Few  take  all  that 
is  offered.  That  it  seems  necessarily  so  is  the  misfortune  of, 
not  so  much  the  school,  as  the  social  conditions. 

Not  all  night  instruction,  however,  is  elementary.  Of 
sixteen  of  the  larger  cities  making  returns  (1884),  five  report 
one  evening  high-school  each,  and  Brooklyn  two.  The  at- 
tendance upon  these  seven  schools  alone  aggregates  about 
three  thousand  students,  representing  more  than  a  hundred 
trades,  and  justifying  the  agency  beyond  criticism.  One 
educator  has  said,  "There  is  no  argument  for  the  regular 
high -school  that  does  not  apply  with  equal  force  to  the 
evening  class  of  like  grade."  And,  as  might  have  been 
predicted,  this  night  high-school  is  far  more  efficient,  secur- 
ing more  certain  good  results  than  the  elementary  evening 
school.  Attendance  is  more  regular,  and  study  more  to 
the  purpose.  New  York,  Boston,  Paterson,  Cincinnati,  and 
Brooklyn,  all  sustain  elaborate  courses  of  study,  or  rather 
long  lists  of  subjects  offered,  from  which  applicants  may 


SUPPLEMENTARY  INSTITUTIONS,  271 

choose.  Philadelphia  has  among  the  secondary  classes  one 
Grerman-English  school  and  one  Italian-English ;  Louisville 
teaches  German ;  San  Francisco,  Spanish ;  Boston,  whatever 
foreign  languages  the  demand  justifies. 

The  last-named  city  requires  examination  for  admission 
to  the  high-school,  as  in  other  parts  of  the  system  ;  the 
examination  including  reading,  writing,  ai'ithmetic,  and 
geography.  A  half-dozen  cities  give  certificates  of  profi- 
ciency for  completed  work. 

Among  evening  schools  also  which  offer  advanced  and 
higher  technical  instruction  are  those  of  the  Maryland  Insti- 
tute, Baltimore,  and  Cooper  Union,  New  York. 

Peter  Cooi)er  was  horn  in  New  York  city,  Fehruary  12, 
1791,  where  he  died  in  1883,  He  had  but  a  single  year  of 
schooling,  yet  in  his  manhood  he  took  a  man's  interest  in  all 
that  concerns  the  public  or  individual  welfare.  He  was 
prominent  in  the  development  of  public-school  education  in 
his  native  city.  He  was  a  trustee  and  officer  of  the  Public 
School  Society;  later,  a  school  commissioner,  and  through- 
out his  life  identified  with  the  schools.  The  high  opinion 
he  held  of  the  value  of  education,  both  from  a  business  point 
of  view  and  in  its  moral  aspect,  led  him  early  to  consider 
how  he  might  contribute  to  the  better  enlightenment  of 
those  whom  the  schools  did  not  reach.  "  I  determined,"  he 
says,  "  if  ever  I  could  acquire  the  means  I  would  build  such 
an  institution  as  would  open  its  doors  at  night,  with  a  full 
coui-se  of  instruction,  calculated  to  enable  mechanics  to  un- 
derstand both  the  theory  and  the  most  skillful  practice  of 
their  several  trades  ;  so  that  they  could  not  only  apply  their 
labor  to  the  best  possible  advantage,  but  enjoy  the  happiness 
of  acquiring  useful  knowledge — the  purest  and  the  most  in- 
nocent of  all  sources  of  enjoyment." 

Cooper  Union  was  incorporated  in  1857.  As  provided  by 
the  will  of  the  founder,  the  institution,  among  other  advan- 
tages, maintains  a  course  of  academic  instruction,  and  a 
School  of  Art,  both  at  night.  It  has  a  library  of  twenty  thou- 
sand volumes,  and  a  reading-room  furnished  with  four  hun- 


273  THE  PERIOD  OF  REORGANIZATION. 

dred  and  fifty  pericniicals.  The  course  of  instruction  has 
industrial  bearing's,  wholly  apart  from  humanistic  or  disci- 
plinary studies.  It  includes  algebra,  geometry,  trigonom- 
etry, calculus,  physics,  elementary  and  analytical  chemistry, 
astronomy,  engineering,  descriptive  geography,  mechanics, 
and  mechanical  drawing.  It  is  meant  to  cover  the  element- 
aiy  principles  of  science,  and  their  application  to  the  practical 
business  of  life.  The  School  of  Art  furnishes  instruction  in 
perspective,  mechanical,  and  architectural  drawing  ;  wood- 
engraving,  photography,  and  telegraphy.  In  full,  the  regu- 
lar course  covers  five  years,  whose  completion  is  marked  by 
a  diploma  and  the  medal  of  the  Cooper  Union.  The  institu- 
tion enrolls  over  four  thousand  students,  one  half  of  whom 
are  clerks  and  mechanics. 

4'  MiLseums  of  Art  and  Science. 

The  rapid  development  of  science  and  the  consequent 
turning  of  the  public  attention  to  the  study  of  Nature,  phys- 
ical investigation,  and  observation  generally,  has  emphasized 
the  great  importance  of  collections  of  objects  of  study,  in- 
cluding also  works  of  art.  Except  a  half-dozen  of  them  the 
museums  of  the  present  are  the  product  of  the  last  forty 
years.  This  is  especially  true  of  art  collections,  though  the 
Pennsylvania  Academy  of  Fine  Arts  was  founded  1805  and 
the  Boston  Athenaeum  two  yeai*s  after. 

The  National  Academy  of  Design,  New  York,  was  estab- 
lished in  1826,  and  four  years  later  was  begun  that  rare  col- 
lection of  coins,  gems,  and  specimens  of  printing  by  the  His- 
torical Society  of  Pennsylvania.  If  to  these  be  added  the 
Museum  and  Gallery  of  Art  of  the  New  York  Historical  So- 
ciety (1804)  and  the  Museum  of  the  Maryland  Historical 
Society  (1844),  the  Wadsworth  Athenaeum,  Hartford  (1842), 
the  Yale  School  of  Fine  Arts  (1825),  and  the  fine  arts  de- 
partment of  the  Essex  Institute,  Salem,  Mass.  (1848),  all  have 
been  named  that  were  founded  prior  to  1850.  These  muse- 
ums number  in  the  aggregate  about  thirty  in  two  thirds  as 
many  cities.    A  dozen  of  them  belong  to  colleges  and  four 


SUPPLEMENTARY  INSTITUTIONS.  273 

to  libraries.  Of  the  last  are  the  Peabody  Institute,  Baltimore, 
and  the  Boston  Athenasum,  Lenox,  and  Redwood  Libraries. 
Among  the  most  notable  galleries  of  art  is  the  Corcoran 
Institution,  Washington.  Founded  in  1869  and  generously 
endowed  by  W.  W.  Corcoran  with  an  annual  income  of 
seventy  thousand  dollars  and  its  already  choice  collection,  its 
growth  and  wholesome  influence  are  assured.  The  princi- 
pal collections  of  the  old  masters  are  to  be  found  in  the 
Metropolitan  Museum  of  Art  of  New  York  (1870),  the  Bryan 
Grallery  of  the  New  York  Historical  Society,  the  Jarvis  col- 
lection in  Yale,  and  in  the  Pennsylvania  Academy.  The 
most  notable  institutions  in  the  West  are  the  Art  Gallery  of 
the  Illinois  Industrial  University,  the  Museum  of  Art  and 
History  ia  the  University  of  Michigan,  the  Crow  Museum  of 
Fine  Arts,  Washington  University,  St.  Louis,  and  the  Muse- 
um of  the  Western  Reserve  Historical  Society,  Cleveland, 
Ohio.  To  half  of  them  there  is  unrestricted  admission  by 
the  public,  and  by  neai'ly  the  same  number  regular  lectm-es 
are  sustained. 

Of  musemns  of  science  that  of  the  Philadelphia  Academy 
of  Natural  Science  is  perhaps  the  oldest,  dating  from  1812. 
Like  most  others  it  is  general  in  its  character.  Besides  these, 
rapid  developments  in  particular  fields  of  science  have  here 
and  there  built  up  special  collections  for  their  illustration 
and  verification,  giving  rise  to  museums  of  zoology  like  that 
at  Harvard  ;  and  botany,  as  the  Agricultural  Museum  at 
Washington;  of  geology  and  mineralogy,  as  at  Rochester 
University ;  of  entomology  and  ornithology,  as  the  Cuttings 
Museiim,  Vermont ;  and  of  medicine,  as  at  the  Army  Medi- 
cal Museum,  Washington,  and  that  in  Yale  College.  Of 
the  first  class,  the  State  Museum  of  New  York  is  an  admir- 
able example.  It  had  its  origin  in  the  specimens  gathered 
in  the  progress  of  the  State  Geological  Survey,  begun  in 
1836.  It  comprises  a  library,  a  laboratory  of  analytical 
chemistry,  and  collections  of  seeds  and  zoological  and  min- 
eralogical  specimens,  and  is  maintained  by  State  grants. 
Having  many  duplicate  specimens,  it  has  been  a  part  of  its 


274       THE  PERIOD  OF  REORGANIZATION. 

policy  to  encourage  the  establishment  of  museums,  and  has 
in  ten  years  distributed  to  normal  schools,  colleges,  and 
academies  in  the  State  more  than  twenty  thousand  labeled 
and  classified  specimens.  The  enterprise  is  unique  and  of 
incalculable  benefit.  A  similar  but  more  specific  service  has 
been  rendered  the  teachers  of  New  York  city  by  Dr.  Bick- 
more,  in  charge  of  the  American  Museum  of  Natural  History 
in  Central  Park.  The  plan  includes  a  course  of  lectures  at 
the  museum  rooms,  primarily  for  teachers,  covering  in  a 
period  of  years  the  various  phases  of  natural  science,  in- 
cluding ethnology  and  special  anthropological  studies.  It 
was  initiated  in  1884. 

The  Museum  of  Comparative  Zoology  at  Hai'vard  had  its 
origin  in  the  collections  made  by  Prof.  Louis  Agassiz.  By 
the  year  1858  a  vast  amount  of  material  had  been  gathered, 
and  specimens  were  being  received — thousands  annually — 
from  all  quarters  of  the  globe.  In  the  year  named  there 
came  a  generous  bequest  of  fifty  thousand  dollars  to  found  a 
"  national  museum."  Friends  of  the  institution  contributed 
seventy-five  thousand  dollars,  and  the  State  Legislature  one 
hundred  thousand  dollars  more.  The  museum  management 
is  independent  of  the  university  control,  though  co-operating 
with  and  supplementing  its  departments. 

The  one  great  museum,  however,  both  in  fact  and  in 
making,  is  that  of  the  Smithsonian  Institution  at  Washing- 
ton. It  has  numerous  departments,  the  more  important  of 
which  are  :  1.  Anthropology ;  2.  Archaeology ;  3.  Nattiral 
resoixrces  ;  4.  Exploitive  industries  ;  5.  Elaborative  indus- 
tries; 6.  Ultimate  products;  and,  7.  Social  relations.  The 
Ethnological  Bureau  has  made  large  collections  in  recent 
years. 

Of  a  more  specific  function  are  the  Pedagogical  Museum 
of  the  Bureau  of  Education  at  Washington,  and  that  of  the 
State  Educational  Department  of  New  York,  recently  begun 
at  Albany. 

In  this  connection,  also,  should  be  included — though  de- 
serving a  larger  place — industrial  and  other  expositions  as 


SUPPLEMENTARY  INSTITUTIONS.  £75 

educational  agencies.  The  interdependence  of  nations,  the 
kinship  of  interests,  the  diversity  of  conditions,  and  the 
abundance  of  skill  in  the  world  of  our  neighbors,  have  been 
brought  out  by  these  schools  of  competition.  Even  the  local 
exhibits  of  limited  sections  of  our  own  country,  of  single 
States  or  cities,  or  particular  industries,  constitute  a  feature 
of  great  educational  value.  New  industries  have  been  cre- 
ated, new  resources  discovered,  new  tools  put  into  shops,  new 
implements  into  fields,  new  machinery  into  factories,  new 
apparatus  into  laboratories ;  millions  of  capital  have  been  re- 
invested, and  the  centers  of  population  shifted,  as  a  result  of 
their  suggestions.  They  represent  something  of  the  uni- 
versal spirit  brought  to  the  merchant's  and  farmer's  and 
shopman's  doors.  They  furnish  the  much-needed  occasions 
for  comparative  study  within  the  limits  of  local  experience. 
It  is  a  wholesome  club-life  on  a  large  scale,  where  friction  of 
mind  brings  sharpness  of  thinking. 

"  From  whatever  point  of  view  we  look  at  them,"  it  has 
been  said,  "  whether  mateiial,  intellectual,  politico-economi- 
cal, or  merely  commercial  or  industrial,  expositions  exert  a 
decided  influence  on  the  welfare  of  nations.  They  are  the 
milestones  of  progress  ;  its  measiires  of  the  dimensions  of  the 
productive  activity  of  the  human  race.  They  make  people 
acquainted  with  the  market,  they  cultivate  taste,  and  afford 
material  for  valuable  comparisons.  They  bring  nations 
closer  to  one  another,  and  so  promote  civilization."  * 

5.  Clubs  and  Circles. 

In  its  social  significance,  the  distribution  of  cidture  is  the 
great  educational  desideratum.  How  to  make  the  technical 
and  particular  knowledge  of  the  few  the  common  experience 
of  the  many,  this  fixes  the  direction  of  all  systems  of  educa- 
tion. Yesterday's  doctrine  of  a  class  is  the  wide  rule  of  con- 
duct to-day.  To  extend  the  boundaries  of  knowledge  and 
obedience,  and  man's  mastery  of  nature,  is  the  function  of 

*  J.  D.  Blanqui,  in  "  Cyclopedia  of  Political  Science"  :  "  Expositions." 


276  THE  PEJRIOD  OF  REORGANIZATION. 

universities  and  societies,  of  laboratories  and  endowed  re- 
search. To  the  college  and  secondary  school,  the  Church, 
the  lecture,  and  the  press  are  left  the  diffusion  of  this  knowl- 
edge, and  making  more  wide-spread  this  obedience  and  mas- 
tery. Looked  at  from  the  social  standpoint,  the  latter  is 
fundamental.  The  success  of  the  imdertaking  conditions  the 
health  of  the  social  body  and  the  perpetuity  of  government. 
In  homogeneity  of  ctdture  are  political  and  civil  strength. 
"  There  is  no  future  for  a  stratified  civilization  "  ;  hence  the 
need  for  every  possible  local  agency  for  the  exchange  and 
circulation  of  the  maturest  and  most  saving  experience.  It 
is  of  less  importance  even  that  much  intelligence  exist  than 
that  the  data  of  intelligence  shall  under  wise  direction  be 
brought  within  easy  reach  of  all.  It  is  a  law  of  life  not  less 
sociological  than  biological  that  vigor  and  fniitfulness  are 
promoted  by  adaptation  and  correspondence  among  the  parts. 
Personal  culture  and  special  knowledge,  and  individual  in- 
vention and  local  intelligence,  must  somehow  be  worked 
down  into  communities,  crystallized  into  form,  talked  about 
around  hearthstones,  shaped  into  customs,  and  so  erected  into 
institutions.  And  to  this  end,  born  of  the  need  and  fed  by 
the  spirit  of  local  self-interest,  have  sprung  up  more  or  less 
general,  less  or  more  formally  organized  societies.  They  are 
variously  named,  and  even  more  diverse  in  constitution  and 
aim  ;  but,  taken  as  a  class,  they  are  of  greater  importance  as 
educational  means  than  appears  from  a  casual  view. 

Under  the  guise  of  clubs  for  intellectual  and  social  ad- 
vantage have  been  formed  philosophical  and  scientific  or- 
ganizations, less  pretentious  than  the  learned  societies  ;  lit- 
erary bodies  for  the  study  of  the  masters  ;  and  historical 
unions,  with  no  official  countenance  from  the  large  associa- 
tions, but  gathering  up  into  permanent  records  the  delicate 
and  far-reaching  but  fast-wasting  threads  of  a  rich  local  life. 
Then  there  is  the  modem  reading  circle,  including  societies 
for  home  study,  correspondence  schools,  the  Chautauqua,  and 
Agassiz  Associations,  etc.  These  can  not  be  regarded  with 
indifference  when  it  is  considered  that  they  enroll  nearly 


SUPPLEMENTARY  INSTITUTIONS.  2YT 

twice  as  many  students  as  all  the  colleges  of  the  United  States 
combined,  for  both  men  and  women,  and  as  many  as  all  the 
secondary  institutions  *  taken  together. 

A.    SOCIAL    CLUBS. 

The  "  Junto,"  of  Philadelphia,  was  one  of  the  earliest  social 
clubs  whose  history  is  left  us,  and  more  or  less  closely  the 
model  of  this  class.  It  was  a  "  club  for  mutual  improve- 
ment," and  enrolled  Franklin  and  his  few  thoughtful  ac- 
quaintances. It  had  weekly  meetings,  and  was  called  by 
Franklin  the  best  school  of  philosophy,  morality,  and  politics 
then  (1727)  existing  in  the  province.  About  the  same  time 
was  a  similar  organization  at  New  Haven,  under  the  lead  of 
Bishop  Berkeley;  another  in  Charleston,  South  Carolina. 
In  the  Revolutionary  period  there  were  many  of  them.  The 
last  half  of  the  nineteenth  century  has  no  monopoly  of  this 
means  of  culture,  but  in  every  generation  it  has  been  a 
natural  outgrowth  of  thoughtful  intercourse. 

Contemporary  clubs  cover  every  possible  field  of  inquiry, 
from  theology  and  metaphysical  speculation  to  politics  and 
agriculture,  and  concern  every  city,  besides  many  of  the 
large  and  smaller  towns.  Boston,  Philadelphia,  St.  Louis, 
Cincinnati,  and  New  York,  have  been  forward  in  encourag- 
ing the  former.  The  Cincinnati  "  Literary  Club  "  has  been 
in  existence  since  1849,  and  been  honored  with  the  member- 
ship of  such  men  as  A.  R.  SpoflPord,  the  founder.  Justice 
Stanley  Matthews,  T.  Buchanan  Read,  Salmon  P.  Chase, 
Oliver  P.  Morton,  George  B.  McClellan,  ex-President  R.  B. 
Hayes,  J.  J.  Piatt,  and  others.  The  membership  is  limited 
to  one  hundred.  Among  numerous  other  clubs  in  the  same 
city,  the  "Unity  Club,"  the  "Historical  Society,"  and  the 
"  Cuvier  Club  "  are  deservedly  prominent. 

The  Philosophical  Club  of  St.  Louis  is  particularly  wor- 
thy of  note  as  the  center  of  one  of  the  most  pronounced 

*  These  include  high-schools,  academies,  and  seminaries,  college  pre- 
paratories, and  normal  schools. 


278  THE  PERIOD  OF  REORGANIZATION. 

philosophical  movements  of  this  country.  It  was  formed  in 
1862,  under  the  influence  of  ex-Governor  Brockmeyer,  of 
Missouri,  and  Dr.  William  T.  Harris,  who  drew  about  them 
a  coterie  of  men  and  women  interested  in  and  intelligently 
alive  to  the  problems  that  have  attracted  the  philosophic 
minds  of  all  the  ages.  In  the  atmosphere  of  its  influence 
was  begun  (1867)  and  is  yet  published  the  "Journal  of 
Speculative  Philosophy,"  edited  by  Dr.  Harris,  and  which, 
for  profundity  of  learning  and  for  comprehensiveness  of 
l)hilosophical  discussion  has  not  its  equal  in  this  country. 

The  Concord  School  of  Philosophy  is  itself  *  an  organized 
club,  with  annual  meetings,  at  which  Dr.  Harris,  Julia 
Ward  Howe,  Dr.  Hiram  K.  Jones,  F.  B.  Sanborn,  Rev.  C. 
A,  Bartol,  and,  in  their  time,  Emerson  and  Alcott,  have 
elaborated  their  philosophies.  Its  first  session  was  held  in 
the  summer  of  1879,  with  a  programme  of  lectures  and  con- 
versations that  covered  five  weeks.  In  addition  to  some 
unrelated  courses  of  lectures,  incident  to  the  association  of 
teachers  of  more  or  less  diverse  views,  one  season  each  has 
been  devoted  to  Goethe,  Emerson,  and  Aristotle,  and  re- 
I)eated  and  comprehensive  courses  upon  Plato  and  Hegel 
and  their  philosophical  implications.  Milwaukee  has,  for 
some  years,  maintained  a  society  of  like  general  aims, 
though  of  less  formal  and  permanent  organization.  Indi- 
anapolis, for  nearly  twenty  years,  has  had  among  the  resi- 
dents of  one  quarter  of  the  city  a  "  College  Corner  Club," 
spending  three  years  at  one  time  upon  Shakespeare,  and 
nearly  as  much  upon  Browning,  besides  studies  in  Goethe, 
and  other  literatures  and  philosophies.  It  is  estimated  that 
there  are  over  one  hundred  Browning  clubs  in  the  United 
States,  and  others  for  the  consideration  of  si)ecial  philoso- 
phies, histories  of  particular  periods  or  events,  or  for  definite 
scientific  investigation.  In  Jacksonville  (Illinois),  as  a  cen- 
ter, was  formed  a  philosophical  club  called  "  The  Akademe," 
which  enrolled  members  from  all  parts  of  the  coimtry.    It 

*  See  "  International  Review,"  vol.  ix,  p.  459. 


SUPPLEMENTARY  INSTITUTIONS.  279 

held  re^lar  monthly  sessions,  and  for  several  years  pub- 
lished its  proceedings  (including  papers  read)  in  a  monthly 
journal.  Dr.  H.  K.  Jones,  a  distinguished  Platonist,  was  the 
founder  of  the  movement. 

Of  a  less  general  and  more  technical  character  were 
the  discussions  of  the  "  Round  Table,"  maintained  years  ago 
in  the  West  among  the  city  school  superintendents  of  St. 
Louis,  Chicago,  Cincinnati,  Cleveland,  Indianapolis,  De- 
troit, Dayton,  and  two  or  three  other  cities,  than  which  no 
single  influence,  perhaps,  did  more  to  rationalize  and  unify 
and  perfect  the  organization  and  instruction  of  Western 
school  systems.  The  Michigan  "  Schoolmasters'  Club  "  and 
one  of  the  same  name  in  Boston  (1881)  represent  the  con- 
temporary high-class  teachers'  society,  and  the  highest  au- 
thority upon  questions  of  education  and  civilization. 

B.    THE    "old   south"    MOVEMENT. 

Of  a  different  kind,  but  eminently  helpful,  are  the  his- 
torical lecture  courses  that,  in  ten  years,  have  been  formed 
after  the  manner  of  those  of  the  "  Old  South  Church,"  Boston. 

During  the  winter  of  1878-'79,  Miss  Alice  Baker  gave  to 
the  young  people  of  the  city  a  series  of  talks  on  "E^rly 
American  Times,"  and  the  year  following.  Prof.  Fiske  a 
course  of  lectures  on  the  "Discovery  and  Colonization  of 
America."  Out  of  these  two  have  developed  the  successive 
annual  courses  since  1883.  These  lectures  are  for  young 
people,  not  for  children ;  are  historical,  and  designed  to  pro- 
mote studies  in  American  history  among  the  youth  of  Bos- 
ton. At  each  lecture  are  distributed  "  Old  South  Leaflets," 
generally  a  republication  of  matter  i)ertinent  to  the  topic  dis- 
cussed. Historical  courses  of  the  same  kind  are  maintained  at 
Indianapolis  (1885),  Madison,  Wisconsin  (1886),  Chicago  and 
Bloomington,  Illinois,  Milwaukee,  Wisconsin,  and  perhaps 
elsewhere. 

C.    BEADING  CIRCLES. 

The  idea  of  the  organized  reading  circle — providing  as- 
sistance and  encouragement  for  home  study — seems  to  have 


280  THE  PERIOD  OF  REORGANIZATION. 

been  brought  to  this  country  from  London  about  fifteen 
years  ago.  There  was  doubtless  similar  co-operation  long 
before,  but  it  was  chiefly  local  and  occasional,  with  results 
correspondingly  individual.  In  fifteen  years  the  impulse 
has  become  a  force  involving  the  concert  of  communities, 
and  looks  to  an  immediate  general  good.  In  this  sense  the 
institution  is  modem. 

(1.)  General  OrgoLizations. 

Miss  Anna  E.  Ticknor,  of  Boston,  learning  of  the  English 
society,  invited  the  co-operation  of  some  friends  in  the  or- 
ganization of  extra-school  study  in  New  England,  which 
eflFort  resulted  (1873)  in  the  "  Society  to  encourage  Studies 
at  Home."  The  purpose,  as  then  formulated  and  still  held, 
is  "  to  induce  among  ladies  the  habit  of  devoting  some  part 
of  every  day  to  study  of  a  systematic  and  thorough  kind." 
Instruction  is  entirely  by  con-espondence,  and  is  given  in 
six  departments — History,  Science,  Art,  Literature,  German, 
and  French — representing  twenty-four  subjects ;  of  which 
history,  science,  and  English  are  most  prominent  among 
courses  taken.  The  staff  of  six,  having  in  charge  the  forty- 
five  readers  of  the  fii-st  year,  has  been  enlarged  to  one  hun- 
dred and  ninety-one  correspondents,  with  over  five  hundred 
members.  Tliese  represent  thirty-seven  States  and  one  Ter- 
ritory, and  all  classes  and  conditions  of  society.  A  very  im- 
portant factor  in  carrying  on  the  work  of  the  society  is  the 
"Lending  Library."  Members  may,  if  they  choose,  borrow 
from  the  society  their  books,  paying  carriage  one  way  and 
one  half  cent  a  day  for  their  use.  The  privilege  is  used  by 
about  two  thirds  of  the  membership. 

Similar  to  the  last  in  aim  and  organization,  though  of 
moi*e  recent  date,  is  the  "  Society  for  Home  Culture,"  started 
in  Philadelphia  in  1880,  by  members  of  the  Society  of  Friends. 
Instruction  is  given  in  Grecian  and  Roman  history,  church 
and  mediaeval  history,  modem  European  history,  American 
history,  English  history,  travels  and  descriptions  of  nations, 
physical  geography,  geology  and  miueralogy,  botany,  as- 


SUPPLEMENTARY  INSTITUTIOXS.  281 

tronomy,  literature  and  language,  political  science,  and  edu- 
cation. 

The  Chautauqua  Literary  and  Scientific  Circle,  instituted 
in  the  summer  of  1878,  prescribed  a  definite  course  of  read- 
ing and  study  covering  the  principal  subjects  of  a  college 
curriculum,  though  "  omitting  of  necessity  the  thorough  drill 
in  mathematics  and  the  languages."  The  peculiar  Chau- 
tauqua idea  is  the  plan  of  simultaneous  study  by  all  classes — 
the  work  of  each  year  being  complete  in  itself.  In  addition 
to  the  regular  course  of  four  years,  are  special  courses  in 
Roman  history  and  literature,  English  history  and  liter- 
ature, astronomy,  political  science,  microscopy,  botany, 
chemistry,  psychology,  philology,  art,  temperance,  missions, 
agriculture.  The  circle  enrolls  seventy-five  thousand  mem- 
bers— from  every  State  in  the  Union,  from  the  Dominion 
of  Canada,  Alaska,  the  Sandwich  Islands,  Great  Britain, 
several  of  the  European  states,  India,  Japan,  South  Africa, 
and  the  isles  of  the  sea.  The  local  club  idea  is  admirably 
exemplified  in  the  separate  Chautauqua  circles,  of  which 
there  are  many  thousands.  Besides  these  are  the  local 
unions,  embracing  the  circles  of  a  given  section — as  the 
New  England  Chautauqua  Association,  the  Northern  Illi- 
nois Union,  the  United  Circle  of  Philadelphia,  the  Brook- 
lyn Assembly,  and  the  North  Carolina  Chautauqua.  The 
C.  L.  S.  C.  (as  it  is  known)  is  but  part  of  a  plan  which, 
taking  raore  definite  shape,  was  organized  (1883)  into,  and 
incorporated  as,  the  "Chautauqua  University."  To  the 
original  function  have  been  added  the  College  of  Liberal 
Arts  and  the  School  of  Theology.  Six  coui'ses  are  offered 
in  the  former,  two  each,  leading  to  the  degi'ees  of  A.  B., 
Ph.  B.,  and  B.  S. 

Similar  in  general  scope  and  workings  to  the  last  is  the 
"  Correspondence  University,"  organized  the  same  year  at 
Ithaca,  New  York.  It  has  regularly  sustained  classes  in 
physical  science,  languages  (including  Hebrew),  philosophy, 
history  and  political  science,  and  law. 


282       THE  PERIOD  OF  REORGANIZATION. 

(2.)  Special  OrganizationB. 

Out  of  these  experiments  developed  the  idea  of  providing 
special  courses  for  particular  classes.  It  was  not  entirely 
new,  though  the  application  was.  The  Mechanics'  Insti- 
tutes and  Libraries,  and  Apprentices'  Societies  of  cities  had 
been  more  or  less  common  for  a  century.  Very  early,  also, 
both  East  and  West,  especially  in  Pennsj^lvania  and  Ohio, 
were  teachers'  libraries,  circulating,  limited  in  books,  and 
more  restricted  in  variety,  but  designed  to  provide  all  the 
teachers  of  a  neighborhood  with  a  somewhat  uniform  course 
of  reading.  Later,  the  organizations  noticed  in  the  preced- 
ing section  were  doing  something  for  teachers ;  but  the  in- 
fluence was  general  and  quite  as  serviceable  to  the  clergy- 
man, the  farmer,  or  the  school-girl,  as  to  the  teacher.  The 
Boston  society  was  exclusive  and  had  a  limited  membership, 
while  others  were  specialized  in  subjects  foreign  to  the  pro- 
fession, and  so  were  missed  by  the  teacher. 

In  the  winter  of  1883  Ohio  organized  a  "  State  Reading 
Circle  "  for  teachers,  and  published  a  suggestive  list  of  books 
in  literature,  history,  science,  and  pedagogy,  with  directions 
for  reading  and  organizing  into  local  circles.  No  course  was 
prescribed,  the  multitude  of  books  recommended  left  teach- 
ers, as  before,  in  doubt  as  to  what  to  read,  and  with  little  of 
joint  action.  Besides,  it  also  suggested  much  of  general 
culture,  and  little  of  professional.  It  soon  came  to  be  recog- 
nized, in  Ohio  and  the  neighboring  States,  that  if  the  name 
and  the  idea  have  any  significance,  the  "  Teachers'  Reading 
Circle  "  must  be  chiefly  professional.  There  is  much  to  be 
mastered  :  familiarity  with  professional  literature,  the  his- 
toric systems  and  reformers  of  education,  something  of 
philosophical  doctrine  as  a  basis  for  one's  theories,  current 
systems  and  contemporary  school  interests,  the  constitution 
and  functions  of  the  child  and  the  teacher,  the  State  and 
society  in  which  he  flnds  his  labor.  This  does  not  mean 
that  one  shall  be  less  a  man  or  woman,  less  cultured  and 
scholarly,  but  more  a  teacher. 


SUPPLEMENTARY  INSTITUTIONS.  283 

Toward  this  idea  Ohio  had  pioneered  the  way.  With 
this  thought  before  them,  the  year  following  teachers  in 
Indiana  organized  a  circle.  It  is  a  State  institution,  the  con- 
trol vested  in  a  board  of  nine  members  elected  by  the  State 
Teachers'  Association,  the  State  Superintendent  of  Public 
Instruction  being  a  member  ex  officio.  It  has  a  prescribed 
course  of  reading,  after  published  outlines,  with  directions 
and  bibliographical  references,  an  official  department  in  the 
"State  School  Journal,"  and  a  system  of  certificates  and 
diplomas  for  completed  work.  The  course  extends  over  four 
years,  and  is  made  to  include  three  lines  of  study,  two  of 
which  are  professional  and  one  general  culture.  As  a  result 
of  the  four  years  of  experiment  in  Indiana — for  it  was  an. 
experiment — the  last  year  reported  a  membership  of  over 
seven  thousand,  with  all  the  counties  in  the  State  represented, 
and  enrolling  in  some  counties  every  teacher. 

Reading  circles  now  in  some  form  are  parts  of  half  the 
State  systems  and  they  are  found  in  many  cities.  The  year 
following  the  movement  in  Indiana  similar  organizations 
were  effected  in  Illinois,  Iowa,  Michigan,  Minnesota,  Wis- 
consin, Kansas,  Nebraska,  Texas,  Kentucky,  Tennessee,  Da- 
kota, Alabama,  and  North  Carolina.  Something  has  been 
done  in  Rhode  Island,  also  in  New  York,  Missouri,  Pennsyl- 
vania, Maine,  Georgia,  Louisiana,  Mississippi,  New  Jersey, 
and  Arkansas — twenty-five  States  in  all.  The  organizations, 
as  might  be  supposed,  vary  greatly  in  plan,  in  management, 
in  comprehensiveness  and  efficiency.  Illinois  reports  2,341 
members  in  the  first  two  years,  and  738  who  finished  and 
passed  upon  the  work  prescribed.  Two  courses  were  main- 
tained— an  elementary  course  of  two  years  and  an  advanced 
one  of  three.  Similarly  the  Missouri  organization,  while 
contemplating  a  four  years'  course,  makes  the  first  two  years 
complete  in  themselves  and  elementary.  The  New  Jersey 
Circle  opened  in  1887  with  flattering  prospects,  city  and 
town  teachers  joining  with  those  from  rural  districts,  and 
the  enrollment  as  to  numbers  being  out  of  all  proportion  to 
the  number  of  teachers  in  the  State.    Of  the  Rhode  Island 


284  THE  PERIOD  OF  REORGANIZATION. 

Circle  the  membership  is  coextensive  with  that  of  the  State 
Institute  of  Instruction,  and  without  further  fees.  The  sub- 
jects offered  are  pedagogy,  history,  literature,  language,  geog- 
raphy, and  science.  The  work  is  voluntary  and  elective. 
In  Michigan  the  general  course  is  three  years,  though  the 
State  Council  offers  additional  subjects  for  advanced  study. 
The  "  Chautauqua  Teachers'  Heading  Union,"  organized  in 
1885,  is  part  of  the  general  Chautauqua  plan,  and  so  more 
national  than  State.  It  has  nine  courses  of  study,  elective, 
and  extending  over  thi-ee  years.  The  "  Teachers'  National 
Reading  Circle,"  instituted  the  year  following,  has  a  like 
organization  and  similar  course. 

Two  States — Indiana  and  Illinois — have  projected  "  Chil- 
dren's Reading  Circles,"  to  suggest  appropriate  books  and, 
working  through  local  teachers,  encourage  the  better  selec- 
tion of  books,  and  their  more  thoughtful  reading  by  the 
young.  The  management  otherwise  is  the  same,  and  under 
the  same  board  of  control  as  is  the  "Teachers'  Reading 
Circle." 

The  Agassiz  Association  is  an  organization  of  several 
hundred  local  societies  banded  together  for  the  elementary 
study  of  nature.  Primarily  for  children  and  young  people, 
its  membership  has  come  to  include  all  who  wish  to  do,  or 
use  it  to  induce  others  to  do,  original  work  in  science.  The 
parent  society  was  that  of  Pittsfield,  Massachusetts,  organized 
in  1876,  from  which  and  under  whose  direction  others  have 
taken  their  plan  and  inspiration.  The  clubs  number  nearly 
one  thousand,  with  fifteen  thousand  members,  and  are  found 
in  every  State,  Canada,  England,  and  Japan.  They  study 
botany,  entomology,  geology,  anatomy,  physiology,  etc.  The 
oflBcial  organ  is  "  The  Swiss  Cross." 

Bibliography. 

"  Sectarian  vs.  Public  Schools,"  "  The  New-Englander,"  vol.  vi,  pp. 
230,  299  ;  "  Defects  in  Political  Institutions,"  Cardinal  Gibbons,  "  North 
American  Review,"  October,  1887;  "The  Proposed  American  Catholic 
University,"  "  American  Catholic  Quarteriy  Review,"  April,  1885 ;  "  Peter 


LEARNED  SOCIETIES  AND   LIBRARIES.  285 

Cooper,"  "  The  Cliautauquan,"  vol.  iv,  No.  1,  p.  398 ;  "  On  the  Educa- 
tional Uses  of  Museums,"  "Proceedings  of  the  New  York  University 
Convocation,"  ISS?,  p.  208;  "How  to  spread  Information,"  " National 
Educational  Association,"  ISSY,  p.  238;  "The  Chautauqua  Movement," 
by  J.  H.  Vincent,  1886;  and  "Expositions,"  in  "Education,"  vol.  vi,  pp. 
62,  178,  272;  "History  of  the  Agassiz  Association,"  by  H.  H.  Ballard, 
^"Science,"  vol.  ix,  p.  93. 


CHAPTEE  XVI. 

LEARNED  SOCIETIES  AND  LIBRARIES. 

1.  General  Societies. 

"An  inventory  of  the  means  of  general  intelligence," 
said  Horace  Mann,  "  which  did  not  include  these  institutions 
— the  lecture,  mechanics'  institutes,  and  scientific  and  gen- 
eral societies — would  justly  be  regarded  as  incomplete." 

Less  formal  in  its  organization  but  more  spontaneous  in 
its  results  than  the  school,  the  free  association  of  students 
and  investigators  has  led  to  some  of  the  most  valuable  con- 
clusions of  modern  science.  The  individual  bias  corrected 
and  the  personal  enthusiasm  tempered  by  the  combined 
judgment  and  diverse  views  of  one's  fellows,  knowledge 
takes  on  the  form  of  universality,  and  so  becomes  true  sci- 
ence. This  friction  works  out  a  revision  which  otherwise 
must  come  from  the  slow  process  of  the  unskilled  criticism 
of  the  general  public.  The  scientific  academy  has  a  field  as 
definitely  marked  as  the  college  or  university,  and  has  been 
described  *  as  "  the  most  potent  agency  which  our  civiliza- 
tion possesses  for  the  discovery  of  truth." 

While  the  Smithsonian  Institution  combines  in  itself  the 
two  functions  of  increasing  and  diflPusing  knowledge,  about 

♦By  President  Gilman,  "Proceedings  of  the  American  Philosophical 
Society,"  vol.  xviii  (1880),  p.  538. 
19 


28G       THE  PERIOD  OF  REORGANIZATION. 

equally  emphasizing  both,  "  the  prime  function  of  the  uni- 
versity is  education,  its  secondary  object  research.  The  con- 
verse is  true  of  the  academy."  This  aims  at  investigation, 
experiment,  observation,  and  only  incidentally  instructs.  It 
looks  to  the  enlargement  of  the  field  of  knowledge,  and  yet 
the  academy  as  an  organization  finds  its  chief  service  in  the 
stimulation  it  affords  the  individual,  the  suggestion  and 
criticism,  the  direction  of  thought  and  broadening  of  views. 
The  association  is  the  occasion  only  for  a  sharpening  of 
insight  and  a  multiplication  of  data  whereby  right  com- 
parisons are  possible. 

A.    SCIENTIFIC   SOCIETIES. 

Sucb  academies  are,  first,  scientific,  and  find  their  type  in 
the  American  Philosophical  Society,  established  by  Franklin 
and  his  companions  in  1743.  This,  besides  the  American  So- 
ciety of  Philadelphia  and  the  Berkeley  Society  of  Newport, 
Rhode  Island,  fifteen  years  before,  both  of  which  were  short- 
lived, was  the  only  organization  of  the  kind  for  half  a  cent- 
ury. *  At  the  close  of  the  century  the  Connecticut  Academy  of 
Arts  and  Sciences  was  founded  (1799),  and  twelve  years  later 
the  Academy  of  Natural  Sciences,  Philadelphia,  and  a  simi- 
lar body  in  New  York  (1818).  If,  then,  the  Linnaean  Society 
(1807)  and  half  a  dozen  literary  and  semi-historical  associa- 
tions be  excepted,  the  development  of  the  academy  belongs 
to  the  last  fifty  years.  This  enlargement  was  a  part  of  the 
new  spirit  of  the  period,  which  took  shape  in  the  American 
Ethnological  Society  (1842),  the  American  Association  for 
the  Advancement  of  Science  (1848),  and  the  American  Geo- 
graphical Society,  all  typical  of  manifold  new  interests.  So 
also  may  be  named,  not  excluding  others  of  equal  merit  per- 

*  It  is  told  (sec  "  Proceedings  of  Washington  Biological  Society,"  Feb- 
ruary 6,  1886)  that,  before  the  middle  of  the  seventeenth  century,  Bishop 
Wilkins,  of  London,  Mr.  Boyle,  and  other  scholars,  purposed  leaving  Eng- 
land to  establish  in  America  a  "  scientific  society  "  or  community  and  or- 
ganization for  research,  hearing  which  Charles  II  provided  for  the  estab- 
lishment of  the  "  Boyal  Society  "  instead. 


LEARNED   SOCIETIES  AND   LIBRARIES.  287 

haps,  the  Araerican  Philological  and  Modem  Language  Asso- 
ciations, the  Oriental  Society,  the  Ajpchaeological  Institute, 
the  American  Society  of  Microscopists,  the  Ornithologists' 
Union,  etc.,  all  of  which,  national  in  their  field  and  so  gen- 
eral, are  yet  special  in  their  inquiry. 

Further,  there  are  local  organizations  also  for  special  re- 
search, as  the  science  clubs,  most  State  societies,  the  Tyndall 
Association,  and,  in  certain  colleges,  seminaries  of  mathe- 
matics, engineering,  the  natural  sciences,  psychology,  eco- 
nomics, OP  of  particular  phases  of  these. 

(1.)  The  American  Philosopliical  Society. 

An  account  of  the  American  Philosophical  Society,  the 
oldest  of  these  organizations,  and  the  type  in  form  and  con- 
duct of  many,  will  suggest  the  constitution  of  most  others. 

The  society  began  with  eight  members  besides  the  founder 
(Benjamin  Franklin),  including  a  physician,  a  botanist,  a 
mathematician,  a  mechanician,  a  geographer,  and  a  natural 
philosopher.  It  was  chartered  (1780)  as  the  "American 
Philosophical  Society  held  at  Philadelphia  for  promoting 
Useful  Knowledge."  For  many  years  its  work  was  done  in 
the  five  sections :  1.  Medicine  and  anatomy;  2.  Natural  his- 
tory and  chemistry ;  3.  Trade  and  commerce  ;  4.  Mechanics 
and  architecture  ;  5.  Husbandry  and  American  improve- 
ment. Put  beside  the  better  of  the  more  recent  societies,  this 
seems  very  general  and  ill-defined.  A  section  was  added 
about  1790  on  "history,  moral  science,  and  general  litera- 
ture,"* and  a  few  others  later,  specialized  from  the  fii'st. 
Franklin  was  for  many  years  the  society's  secretary  and  the 
first  president  of  the  incorporated  organization  (1780-'90). 
At  his  death  he  was  succeeded  in  office  by  David  Rittenhouse, 
of  whom  Jefferson  (himself  a  member  for  forty-six  years)  t 

*  The  genesis  of  the  Pennsylvania  Historical  Society. 

i  Mr.  Jefferson  was  much  interested  in  all  scientific  and  philosophical 
questions.  It  is  related  of  his  horseback-ride  to  his  inaucfuration  as  Presi- 
dent of  the  United  States  that  he  carried  witli  him  a  saddle-bag  of  strange 


288  THE  PERIOD  OF  REORGANIZATION. 

said,  "  Genius,  science,  modesty,  purity  of  morals,  and  sim- 
plicity of  manners,  marked  him  one  of  Nature's  best  samples 
of  the  perfection  she  can  cover  under  the  human  form." 

The  membership  has  included,  besides  those  already 
named,  men  of  such  eminence  as  Benjamin  Rush,  A.  D. 
Bache,  Bertram  the  botanist,  Alexander  Hamilton,  John 
Randolph,  Benjamin  Silliman,  and  Robert  Fulton;  and  of 
foreign  gentlemen,  Priestley,  Erasmus  Darwin,  Dr.  Jenner, 
and  Sir  Humphry  Davy — seeming  to  justify  the  contempo- 
rary comment  that  the  "  Philosophical  Society  of  Philadel- 
phia comprehended  within  itself  whatever  the  American 
world  had  of  distinction  in  philosophy  and  science  in  gen- 
eral." In  its  meetings  were  first  discussed  and  revised  many 
of  the  theories  and  discoveries  in  physics,  chemistry,  meteor- 
ology, and  economics,  which  have  played  so  large  a  part  in 
modem  science  and  progress.  The  orrery  of  Rittenhouse, 
the  Delaware  Canal,  American  silk-culture,  the  use  of  fertil- 
izers, and  the  revision  and  enlargement  of  the  census,  all 
took  their  impixlse  from  its  deliberations. 

(2.)  The  Boston  Academy  of  Scieuccs. 

As  representative  of  a  comprehensive  organization  that 
of  the  Boston  Academy  of  Sciences  is  presented.  It  consists 
of  fellows  and  honorary  members  assigned  to  three  classes, 
with  the  minor  sections  as  follows : 

Class  I.  The  mathematical  and  physical  sciences : 

1.  Mathematics. 

2.  Practical  astronomy  and  geodesy. 

3.  Physics  and  chemistry. 

4.  Technology  and  engineering. 

Class  H.  The  natural  and  physiological  sciences: 

1.  Greology,  mineralogy,  and  the  physics  of  the 
globe. 

fossils,  whose  description  he  had  attempted,  and  concerning  which  he 
sought  scientific  authority. 


LEAKNED  SOCIETIES  AND  LIBRARIES.  289 

2.  Botany. 

3.  Zoology  and  physiology. 

4.  Medicine  and  surgery. 

CJiiASS  III.  The  moral  and  political  sciences : 

1.  Philosophy  and  jurisprudence. 

2.  Philology  and  archaeology. 

3.  Political  economy  and  history. 

4.  Literature  and  the  fine  arts. 

(3.)  The  Philadelphia  Academy  of  Natural  Sciences. 

Early  in  the  century  natural  history  had  received  a  strong 
popular  as  well  as  scientific  impulse  in  the  publication 
of  Wilson's  "American  Ornithology,"  and  certain  devel- 
opments in  botany,  under  Dr.  Muhlenberg  and  his  school. 
The  study  of  the  general  phenomena  of  life,  in  France  and 
England,  was  claiming  scientific  attention,  in  which  Ameri- 
cans participated.  The  Philadelphia  Academy  of  Natural 
Sciences  took  its  origin  about  1812,  with  the  versatile  scien- 
tist Mr.  Thomas  Say  and  his  companions,  and,  very  early, 
under  the  prevailing  scientific  interest,  became  specialized 
toward  biological  investigations.  This  was  in  contrast 
with  other  societies,  as  appears  from  the  organization.  The 
eight  sections  comprise:  1.  Biology  and  microscopy.  2. 
Conchology.  8.  Entomology.*  4.  Botany.  5.  Mineralogy 
and  geology.  6.  Invertebrate  paleontology.  7.  Inverte- 
brate zoology.  8.  Ethnology  and  archaeology.  Its  library 
is  said  to  be  one  of  the  most  complete  and  reliable  collections 
of  works  upon  natural  history  in  the  United  States. 

B.   TECHNOLOGICAL   SOCIETIES. 

The  Franklin  Institute,  Philadelphia,  is  representative  of 
a  large  class  of  organizations  whose  function  is  to  point  out 
and  enforce  the  applications  of  science  to  the  industrial  in- 
terests of  society.  It  includes  mechanics'  institutes,  dating 
from  the  last  century;  industrial  associations  of  the  more 

*  This  constitutes  the  American  Entomological  Society. 


290  THE  PERIOD  OF  REORGANIZATION. 

modem  type,  to  which  the  public  is  largely  indebted  for  a 
revival  of  handicraft  training,  the  promotion  of  art,  and  the 
constructive  habit,  so  imiwrtant  to  an  industrial  people ;  and 
the  more  formal  trade  and  technological  organizations.  Of 
the  latter  are  the  "Society  of  Arts,"  of  the  Massachusetts 
Institute  of  Technology,  and  the  "Associates  of  Cooper 
Union."  In  a  general  way,  also,  the  National  Academy  of 
Sciences,  which  was  formed  during  the  civil  war,  and  which 
grew  out  of  the  exigencies  of  the  period,  has  a  like  constitu- 
tion. 

(1.)  Cooper  Union. 

In  the  act  of  incorporation  of  Cooper  Union  it  was  pro- 
vided that  the  trustees  of  the  corporation  might  associate 
with  themselves  such  persons  as  they  should  see  fit,  whose 
united  organization  should  be  known  as  the  "  Society  of  the 
Associates  of  Cooper  Union  for  the  Advancement  of  Science 
and  Art."  Its  objects  are  stated  to  be  "  the  encouragement  of 
science,  arts,  manufactures,  and  commerce ;  the  bestowal  of 
rewards  for  such  productions,  inventions,  and  improvements 
as  tend  to  the  useful  employment  of  the  poor,  the  increase 
of  trade,  and  the  riches  and  honor  of  the  country;  for  meri- 
torious works  in  the  various  departments  of  fine  arts ;  for 
discoveries,  inventions,  and  improvements;  and,  generally, 
by  lectures,  papers,  and  discussions  thereon,  and  other  suit- 
able means,  to  assist  in  the  advancement,  development,  and 
practical  application  of  every  department  of  science  in  con- 
nection with  the  arts,  manufactures,  and  commerce  of  the 
country."  Investigations  are  carried  on  in  fourteen  sections, 
comprising  both  technological  and  economic  inquiries. 

(2.)  Society  of  Arts. 

In  conformity  with  the  original  plan  of  the  Massachu- 
setts Institute  of  Technology,  the  Society  of  Arts  was  estab- 
lished in  1861.  It  looks  to  the  advancement  of  the  practical 
sciences  in  connection  with  arts,  agriculture,  manufactures, 
and  conunerce.  An  idea  of  the  society's  function  may  be 
gathered  from  the  following  list  of  topics  discussed  in  one 


LEARNED  SOCIETIES  AND  LIBRARIES.  291 

year  (1886-'87) :  "  Steel  for  Warfare,"  "  Railroad  Engineering 
Education,"  "  Incandescent  Lighting,"  "  Electric  Welding," 
"  Stellar  Photography,"  '*  Evolution  of  the  Modern  Yacht," 
"  The  Freezing  Process  in  Excavations,"  "  Water-Power  of 
the  United  States,"  "  Bessemerizing  of  Copper,"  "  Coal-Min- 
ing," "  Sources  of  Business  Profits,"  "  Eailway-Tracks,"  "  Au- 
tomatic Fire- Alarms,"  "Submarine  Signals." 

C.    HISTOEICAL   AND   ECONOMIC   SOCIETIES. 

Of  a  different  character  are  the  general  historical  associa- 
tions for  the  collection  and  preservation  of  records,  eminent 
biographies.  State  and  administrative  papers,  and  whatever 
adds  permanence  and  completeness  to  the  traces  of  institu- 
tional life. 

The  Massachusetts  Historical  Society  (1791)  is  the  parent 
of  all  this  large  class.  Among  other  active  organizations  are 
the  New  England  Historico-Grenealogical  Society,  the  Ameri- 
can Antiquarian  Society,  the  Pilgrim  Society  (Plymouth),  the 
American  Historical  Association,  of  somewhat  general  inter- 
est, the  Newport  (Rhode  Island)  Historical  Society,  and  the 
Albany  Institute,  in  the  East;  the  Maryland,  South  Carolina, 
Kentucky,  and  Missouri,  and  Southern  (Virginia)  Historical 
Societies,  in  the  South;  State  pioneer  associations  in  Cali- 
fornia, Michigan,  Ohio,  and  Wisconsin,  and  numerous  his- 
torical societies  throughout  the  West  belonging  to  this  class. 
Besides  these,  there  are  the  more  recent  economic  organiza- 
tions, represented  in  the  American  Social  Science  Associa- 
tion, the  Institute  of  Civics,  etc. 

Such  organizations  are  to  be  found  in  every  State  and 
most  of  the  Territories — more  than  one  hundred  in  all — be- 
sides a  number  of  others  that,  including  more  or  less  of 
philosophical  and  scientific  inquiry,  or  connected  with  libra- 
ries and  museums,  have  a  similar  character. 

D.    SOCIETY  PUBLICATIONS, 

One  of  the  most  helpftil  services  of  these  general  societies 
of  whatever  aim  is  the  publication  of  their  proceedings  and 


292  THE  PERIOD  OF  REORGANIZATION. 

contributions.  In  the  aggregate  they  number  perhaps  three 
hundred  to  four  hundred  volumes.  Unique  among  them  is 
the  "  American  Journal  of  Science,"  started  in  1818  under 
Prof.  Silliman,  who  did  so  much  for  science  in  the  first  half 
of  the  present  century.  It  embraces  the  circle  of  the  "  physi- 
cal sciences,  and  their  application  to  every  useful  purpose." 
Its  one  hundred  and  thirty-three  volumes  form  a  work  of 
permanent  value  as  exhibiting  the  progress  of  American 
science  in  the  century.  The  '*  Joiu'nal  of  the  Philadelphia 
Academy  of  Science,"  which  is  one  year  older,  admitting  to 
its  pages  "only  that  which  is  new,  or  is  thought  to  be 
so,"  in  natural  history,  has  for  sixty  years  had  a  wide 
circulation  both  in  Europe  and  America,  and  has  been 
pronounced  ''absolutely  indispensable  to  every  American 
naturalist." 

The  published  documenta  of  the  Massachusetts  Historical 
Society  number  forty-four  volumes,  include  the  Winthrop 
and  Sewall  and  Belknap  papers,  and  are  of  more  than  local 
importance.  Together  with  like  collections  by  other  colo- 
nies, they  have  been  the  (original)  sources  of  most  of  the 
early  historical  literature  of  this  country.  The  "  Plymouth 
Colony  Records  "  comprise  ten  volumes,  and  those  of  Massa- 
chusetts and  Rhode  Island,  the  "  New  Hampshire  Provincial 
Papers,"  and  the  records  of  the  town  of  Boston,  aggregate 
fifty  more.  Broadhead's  "  Documents  of  the  Colonial  His- 
tory of  New  York,"  a  similar  set  of  papers  in  New  Jersey, 
the  publications  of  the  New  York  Historical  Society  (com- 
piled by  Mr.  Greorge  Bancroft),  including  the  noted  "Lee 
Papers,"  and  the  archives  of  Maryland,  have  all  been  the 
work  of  either  historical  societies  or  of  Legislatures  and  in- 
dividuals, at  the  suggestion  of  such  bodies.  Their  labors  are 
invaluable,  not  for  the  number  of  volumes  they  represent, 
but  for  the  indispensable  fund  of  historical  information, 
town  and  church  histories,  political  papers  and  correspond- 
ence, biographies,  records  and  diaries,  glimpses  of  the  past, 
data  for  the  comparative  study  of  institutions  and  custom 
and  progress. 


LEARNED  SOCIETIES  AND  LIBRARIES.  293 

3.  Libraries. 

When  one  considers  that,  exclusive  of  parish  and  Sun- 
day-school libraries,  all  private  collections,  and  public  and 
school  libraries  of  less  than  three  hundred  volumes  each, 
there  are  in  the  United  States  twenty  million  volumes,  the 
magnitude  of  the  library  interest  is  apparent.  And  yet 
these  millions  of  books,  in  more  than  five  thousand  libra- 
ries, have  been  gathered  in  a  century  and  a  half. 

A.    COLONIAL    BEGINNINGS. 

Though  rich  in  the  sources  of  suggestion  and  example, 
the  colonial  history  is  both  short  and  of  meager  details. 

The  earliest  community-libraries  were,  doubtless,  sug- 
gested by  the  occasional  choice  private  libraries  of  public- 
spirited  citizens.  Of  historic  note  among  these  were :  1.  The 
Sharp  Library  of  New  Yoi'k,  which  was  presented  to  the 
town  in  1700,  and  fifty  years  later  became  the  nucleus  of  the 
New  York  Society  Library.  2.  The  Logan  Library  of  Phil- 
adelphia; a  valuable  collection  of  classical  works,  owned 
by  a  learned  Quaker,  who  conveyed  three  thousand  vol- 
umes to  the  village  in  1745,  with  an  endowment.  3.  The 
Prince  Library,  the  property  of  a  pastor  of  the  Old 
South  Church,  Boston.  This  was  rich  in  the  annals  of 
New  England ;  and,  after  being  held  by  the  church  a  hun- 
dred years,  was  finally  deposited  with  the  Boston  Public 
Library. 

It  is  not  likely  these  were  all.  Among  the  colonists  were 
scholarly  men.  But,  at  any  time  before  the  Revolution, 
libraries  must  have  been  small,  for  their  collection  was  both 
difficult  and  expensive.  In  1723  there  was  but  one  printer 
in  New  York,  and  two  only  in  Philadelphia.  Practically 
all  books  were  brought  from  England.  It  is  not  strange, 
then,  that  in  the  first  one  hundred  and  fifty  years  from  the 
founding  of  Jamestown,  the  country  had  barely  six  libra- 
ries, besides  what  might  be  found  in  the  colleges.  It  is  esti- 
mated that  there  were  in  the  colonies,  all  told,  in  1775,  about 


294  THE  PERIOD  OF  REORGANIZATION. 

forty-three  thousand  volumes,  forty-five  per  cent  of  which 
were  in  the  colleges. 

The  most  fruitful  collections  of  this  period  were  the  social 
or  subscription  libraries.  The  oldest  of  these  was  that  in 
Philadelphia,  which  Franklin  said  was  the  "  mother  of  all 
North  American  subscription  libraries."  It  had  its  sugges- 
tion in  the  "  Junto,"  *  a  reading  and  debating  club  of  Frank- 
lin and  his  companions,  and  was  started  in  1732.  The  selec- 
tion was  chiefly  of  reference-books,  though  they  circulated 
among  "  subscribing  members."  t  Of  theological  works  and 
controversial,  it  is  said  the  library  had  none  ;  something  of 
polite  literature,  and  much  of  science,  travels,  the  mechanic 
arts,  and  philosophy.  The  same  general  character  is  still 
preserved,  while  it  has  been  much  enriched  by  certain  rare 
collections,  newspaper  files  (one  set  continuous  from  1791), 
pamphlets  of  the  Eevolution,  etc.  Tlie  society  has  now  one 
thousand  members  and  one  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  vol- 
umes. 

Next  to  this,  both  in  time  and  influence,  is  the  Redwood 
Library,  of  Newport,  Rhode  Island  (1747).  It  had  large 
donations  before  the  middle  of  the  centuiy,  and  was  the 
recipient  of  substantial  favors  from  the  English  bishop, 
George  Berkeley.  This  gentleman  was  both  philosopher 
and  theologian.  Coming  to  America  (1729),  his  scholarly 
tastes  X  early  made  him  the  center  of  the  culture  and  learn- 
ing of  Rhode  Island  and  Connecticut— colonies  noted  for 
their  learning  and  refinement,  A  society  for  literary  and 
philosophical  intercourse  was  founded  the  next  year.  Aspir- 
ing to  the  possession  of  a  library,  its  members  contributed  a 

*  The  basis  of  the  American  Philosophical  Society,  perhaps,  f'tarted  ten 
years  later. 

+  Mr.  James  Parton's  "  Triumphs  of  Enterprise "  contains  (p.  177)  a 
very  readable  and  trustworthy  chapter  on  the  "  Rise  of  Circulating  Libra- 
ries." 

X  "  So  much  understanding,  so  much  knowledge,  so  much  innocence, 
and  such  humility,  I  did  not  think  had  been  the  fashion  of  any  but  angels 
till  I  saw  this  gentleman." — Atterbckt. 


LEARNED  SOCIETIES  AND  LIBRARIES.  295 

few  books,  and  in  1747,  through  the  generosity  of  Abraham 
Redwood,  the  library  was  established,  said  to  have  been  one 
of  the  choicest  collections  on  theology,  history,  and  the  arts 
and  sciences  of  its  day.  Scholai's  came  to  it  "from  the 
Carolinas  and  the  West  Indies,  from  New  York,  and  even 
fi"om  Boston,"  *  to  replenish  their  stores  of  knowledge.  It 
is  still  flourishing,  with  nearly  thirty  thousand  volumes  in 
the  library,  extensive  galleries  of  painting  and  sculpture, 
and  a  liberal  yearly  income. 

About  the  same  time,  and  probably  inspired  by  the  New- 
port and  Philadelphia  ventures,  a  number  of  young  men  in 
South  Carolina  S/Ssociated  themselves  for  mutual  improve- 
ment ;  a  library  was  formed,  which,  though  destroyed  dur- 
ing the  Revolution,  became,  in  organization,  the  nucleus  of 
the  present  Public  Library  of  Charleston. 

The  present  New  York  Society  Library  was  incorporated 
(1754)  as  the  "  City  Library,"  and  was  chartered  under  its 
present  name  just  before  the  Revolution.  In  half  a  cent- 
ury from  1800  it  had  increased  from  six  thousand  to  forty 
thousand  volumes,  has  now  more  than  tvdce  as  many,  and 
ranks  as  one  of  the  eai'liest  and  most  successful  loan-libraries 
in  the  country.  It  contains  rare  editions,  valuable  news- 
paper files,  and  is  withal  the  "  library  of  the  old  Knicker- 
bocker families  of  New  York  city." 

One  other  library  deserves  mention  in  this  connection,  as 
indicating  the  intelligence  and  general  refinement  which 
might  then  be  found  in  not  a  few  New  England  communi- 
ties. The  "  Social  Library  "  of  Salem,  Massachusetts,  was  a 
club  organization  (1760),  limited  in  its  membership,  and  phil- 
osophical. Its  books  were  few,  but  well  chosen,  numbering, 
fifty  years  afterward,  but  eight  hundred  volumes;  though 
including  the  memoirs  of  the  French  Academy,  the  Royal 
Society  transactions  from  the  beginning,  and  the  memoirs 
of  the  Berlin  Academy,  besides  philosophical  works  of  indi- 

*  Stockwell's  "  History  of  Public  Education  in  Rhode  Island," 
p.  269. 


296       THE  PERIOD  OF  REORGANIZATION. 

viduals  and  the  publications  of  contemporary  literary  insti- 
tutions. 

B.   RECENT   LIBBABIES. 

Between  the  Revolution  and  the  second  war  with  Eng- 
land, little  more  was  done  in  improving  libraries  than  other 
educational  agencies.  But  the  i)eriod  since  has  shown  inter- 
esting developments.  New  agencies  for  increasing  knowl- 
edge were  devised ;  new  means  of  spreading  it.  School  and 
church,  government  and  trade,  social  interests  and  estab- 
lished forms  were  put  to  the  test — out  of  the  ordeal  emerged, 
if  not  new  institutions,  vastly  modified  and  improved  old 
ones. 

Within  this  period,  besides  those  named,  have  started 
the  Mercantile,  Mechanics',  and  Apprentices'  Libraries;  en- 
dowed and  public  libraries;  school  and  free  town  libraries; 
most  of  those  in  colleges  and  professional  institutions ;  State 
and  national  libraries.  The  aggregate  is  enormous,  and 
constitutes  one  of  the  most  available  of  educational  agen- 
cies. 

(1.)  Mcrcantilo  Libraries. 

The  first  of  these,  as  the  principal  libraries  of  the  colonial 
period,  are  supported  by  subscription,  but  differ  from  those 
already  noted  in  belonging  generally  to  or  taking  their  mem- 
bers from  a  guild  or  class.  Three  such  were  established  in 
the  year  1820 — the  Boston  and  the  New  York  Mercantile,  and 
the  New  York  Apprentices'  Library.  The  Philadelphia  Mer- 
cantile was  founded  a  year  later.  After  the  example  of  the 
English  society,  mechanics'  institutes  were  formed  in  this 
country,  which  frequently  took  advantage  of  the  library  in- 
terest to  hold  their  members  together ;  but  no  large  collec- 
tions resulted. 

The  two  oldest  of  these  mercantile  library  institutions 
are  also  representative  of  two  distinct  types  of  control. 
Most  of  them  are  principally  for  merchants'  clerks  or  me- 
chanics, and,  as  in  Boston,  are  managed  by  them.  In  New 
York,  on  the  contrary,  the  Clinton  Hall  Association  of  the 


LEARNED  SOCIETIES  AND  LIBRARIES.  297 

City  of  New  York  is  an  organization  of  prominent  mer- 
chants, who  own  the  building  and  "  hold  in  trust  and  manage 
all  property,  real  and  personal,  for  the  benefit  of  the  libra- 
ry." The  officers  of  the  library  control  their  own  affairs, 
financial  and  administrative,  as  a  distinct  organization,  hav- 
ing free  rent,  and  holding  the  books  equally  open  to  mem- 
bers of  both  associations.  The  institution  has  two  hundred 
and  twenty-five  thousand  volumes,  nine  thousand  members, 
its  own  bindery,  property  to  the  value  of  half  a  milion,  and 
ranks  fifth  in  size  in  the  United  States.  Of  the  same  class  is 
the  St.  Loms  Mercantile  Library  (seventy-five  thousand  vol- 
umes). The  Brooklyn  organization  is  pecular  in  that,  while 
a  class  institution  in  name  and  control,  it  is  free  to  all  on 
equal  terms.  It  has  ninety  thousand  volumes  ;  San  Fran- 
cisco sixty  thousand,  and  Philadelphia  as  many  as  both. 
This  last  is  famous  for  the  large  bibliographical  depai'tment 
numbering  five  thousand  volumes.  There  are  thirty-five  li- 
braries belonging  to  this  class,  and  as  many  more  that,  while 
social  in  their  organization,  are  somewhat  more  literary,  and 
go  by  the  name  of  young  men's  associations,  athenaeums, 
etc.  Of  the  former  is  the  Young  Men's  Association  Library 
at  Albany,  New  York,  foxinded  in  1833.  The  Boston  Athe- 
naeum is  a  unique  institution.  Primarily  devoted  to  its  read- 
ing-room, it  has  a  library  of  one  hundred  and  fifty  thousand 
volumes.  It  is  proprietary,  owning  real  estate,  library,  and 
fine-art  collections,  and  invested  funds  to  the  amount  of  a 
quarter  of  a  million  of  dollars. 

(2.)  Public  Libraries. 

The  Public  Library  in  Boston  "  sprang,"  says  Mr.  Henry 
Barnard,  "  from  a  feeling  on  the  part  of  its  most  thoughtful 
and  judicious  citizens  that  the  system  of  public  education,  so 
liberally  provided  for  the  young,  might  be  and  should  be 
extended  to  those  of  more  mature  age."  The  sentiment  took 
form  in  1847,  when  Mayor  Quincy  offered  to  give  to  the  city 
$5,000  in  order  to  initiate  a  library,  provided  $10,000  should 
be  otherwise  raised  for  the  same  purpose.    The  gift  was  ac- 


298  THE  PERIOD  OF  REORGANIZATION. 

cepted,  and  a  legislative  act  secured  authorizing  its  establish- 
ment. In  fifteen  years  it  numbered  nearly  one  hundred 
thousand  volumes.  Besides  cash  donations  from  Mr.  Joshua 
Bates  ($100,000)  and  others,  it  has  received  some  valuable 
gifts  of  books.  The  famous  mathematical  collection  of  Prof. 
Bowditch  was  presented  by  his  sons.  Theodore  Parker  be- 
queathed to  it  his  own  scholarly  library  of  over  eleven  thou- 
sand volumes.  Mr.  George  Ticknor  donated  seven  thousand 
volumes  of  ancient  classics,  Spanish  and  Portuguese.  It  re- 
ceived, also,  the  Prince  Library  from  the  Old  South  Church, 
and  the  Boston  Shakespeare  Collection.  It  comprises  four 
hundred  and  fifty  thousand  volumes,  and  is,  next  to  the 
Library  of  Congress,  the  largest  in  the  United  States.  The 
Cincinnati  Public  Library,  of  one  hundred  and  fifty  thou- 
sand volumes,  and  the  Public  Library  of  Chicago,  nearly  as 
large,  are  both  public  (free)  and  tax-supported. 

(3.)  Endowed  Libraries. 

The  endowed  librai'ies  of  the  United  States — either  found- 
ed or  maintained,  or  both,  by  private  benefaction — form  a 
large  class.  Among  the  oldest  and  most  widely  known  of 
these  are  the  Astor  and  Lenox  Libraries  of  New  York,  the 
Case  Library  of  Cleveland,  Ohio,  the  Peabody  Libraries  in 
Baltimore,  Maryland,  and  Danvers  and  Peabody,  Massachu- 
setts, and  the  Sutro  Library,  San  Francisco,  California. 

John  Jacob  Astor,  of  New  York,  died  March  29,  1848. 
One  codicil  to  his  will  said:  "Desiring  to  render  a  public 
benefit  to  the  city  of  New  York  and  to  contribute  to  the  ad- 
vancement of  useful  knowledge  and  the  general  good  of 
society,  I  do,  by  this  codicil,  appoint  $400,000  out  of  my 
residuary  estate  to  the  establishment  of  a  public  library  in 
the  city  of  New  York."  Eleven  trustees  were  apix)inted, 
whose  first  president  was  Washington  Irving.  The  institu- 
tion was  opened  (1854)  with  eighty  thousand  volumes,  se- 
lected wholly  for  reference,  a  character  which  the  library 
still  retains.  It  has  since  received  from  the  Astor  family 
(three  generations)  two  large  and  well-equipped  buildings 


LEARNED  SOCIETIES  AND  LIBRARIES.  299 

and  $300,000  in  cash  donations  and  bequests.  The  library  is 
a  general,  not  special  one,  but  with  history  constituting  about 
one  fourth  of  the  whole  (two  hundred  and  twenty-five  thou- 
sand volumes).  It  has  a  permanent  invested  fund  of  $775,- 
000. 

Of  tlie  same  general  character,  both  as  to  organization 
and  books,  is  the  Peabody  Library,  Baltimore,  established  in 
1857.  It  has  approximately  one  hundred  thousand  volumes, 
free  to  any  one  within  the  building.  The  proposed  New- 
berry Library,  Chicago,  comes  of  the  haK  part  of  an  estate 
left  to  the  city,  in  a  residuary  bequest,  by  Walter  L.  New- 
berry in  1868.  The  trustees  have  just  come  into  possession 
of  $2,149,200,  out  of  which  are  to  be  furnished  buildings  and 
a  reference  library  similar  to  the  last. 

(4.)  School  District  Libraries. 

It  has  been  generally  said  that  libraries  supported  by 
public  funds  began  in  England  (1850).  But  the  State  of 
New  York,  fifteen  years  before,  had  a  working  law  for  pro- 
viding and  supporting  free-school  libraries  throughout  the 
State.  Three  years  afterward,  $55,000  a  year  was  ordered 
turned  from  the  general  school  fund  for  their  mainte- 
nance, on  condition  that  the  districts  raise  an  equal  sum. 
Within  fifteen  years  they  numbered  a  million  and  a  haK  of 
volumes.  These  were  to  do  for  the  rural  districts  of  the 
Empire  State  what  Boston  meant  to  do  for  the  city — con- 
tribute to  out-of-school  improvement.  The  limit  of  their 
efficiency  was  soon  reached.  In  1860  only  seven  hundred 
thousand  volumes  were  reported,  notwithstanding  more  than 
a  million  dollars  had  been  expended  in  their  support. 

Following  New  York,  Michigan  (1837)  authorized  the 
establishment  of  township  libraries,  and  Massachusetts  im- 
mediately after.  Connecticut  passed  a  similar  law  in  1839, 
Rhode  Island  in  1840,  and  Iowa  the  same  year,  while  yet 
a  Territory.  Indiana's  first  law  was  enacted  in  1841,  but 
supplemented  eleven  years  after,  by  ordering  a  tax  of  one 
fourth  of  a  mill  on  each  dollaj*,  and  twenty-five  cents  on  each 


300       THE  PERIOD  OF  REORGANIZATION, 

poll,  to  be  levied  for  two  years,  and  the  proceeds  applied  to 
the  purchase  of  books  for  the  school  districts.  Within  three 
years  half  a  million  volumes  had  been  distributed.  Ohio 
made  substantially  the  same  provisions  in  1848,  and  Wis- 
consin also,  whose  legislation  Mr.  Barnard  pronounced  "  al- 
together in  advance,  in  its  practical  bearings  and  complete- 
ness, of  anything  then  attempted."  Of  twenty  States  which, 
prior  to  1875,  had  made  some  attempt  to  provide  books  for 
the  school  districts,  eleven  had  sent  out  more  than  three 
million  volumes.  In  a  general  way  it  may  be  said  that, 
while  they  fell  short  of  the  expectations  of  their  friends, 
these  libraries  yet  served  to  prepare  the  way  for  the  more 
recent  town  libraries  that  promise  to  be  a  needed  and  whole- 
some supplement  to  the  conunon  schools. 

(5.)  Free  Town  Libraries. 

New  Hampshire  initiated  the  plan  of  town  libraries  main- 
tained by  public  tax,  or  municipal  appropriation  (1819),  the 
amount  of  the  grant  in  any  case  being  left  to  the  town.  This 
was  a  year  before  the  so-called  Public  Libraries  Act  of  Eng- 
land. Previous  to  this,  single  communities  in  New  Hamp- 
shire *  had  assumed  the  responsibility,  and  by  public  vote  had 
established  and  by  annual  appropriation  supported  exactly 
similar  libraries.  Castine,  Maine,  had  one  in  1827,  and  the 
Bingham  Library,  at  Salisbury,  Connecticut,  in  1803,  ante- 
dated the  State  law  by  sixty-six  years.  Such  instances  wei*e 
not  unknown  even  in  the  West,  though  they  came  later,  and 
were  generally  given  private  aid. 

The  State  Library  law  of  Massachusetts  (1851)  grew  out 
of  an  attempt  to  establish  a  library  at  Wayland,  in  that 
State,  a  few  years  before.  New  Bedford  first  organized  un- 
der this  law  a  library  that  has  now  fifty  thousand  volumes. 
Maine,  Vermont,  Ohio,  Wisconsin,  Connecticut,  Indiana,  and 
Iowa  had  all  made  similar  enactments  before  1870  ;  perhaps 
a  dozen  others  have  done  so  since. 

*  Peterborough  had  then  had  a  free  public  library  for  fourteen  years. 


LEARNED  SOCIETIES  AND  LIBRARIES.  301 

(6.)  Professional  Libraries. 

Another  class,  far  less  numerous,  and  more  special,  are 
those  belonging  to  the  professions — law,  medicine,  and  the- 
ology. 

Of  the  last,  there  is  but  one  not  connected  with  seminaries 
or  theological  departments.  This  is  the  General  Theological 
Library  of  Boston,  founded  in  1860  by  members  of  different 
denominations,  "looking  toward  Christian  union  by  first 
promoting  a  better  understanding  among  the  sects."  Alto- 
gether the  United  States  has  seventy-six  theological  libraries, 
including  both  independent  seminary  and  department  libra- 
ries, with  an  aggregate  of  eight  hundred  thousand  volumes. 

Of  the  function  of  medical  libraries,  it  has  been  asserted  :  * 
"  Few  persons  have  any  adequate  idea  of  the  amount  of  med- 
ical literature  in  existence,  or  its  proper  and  true  value.  The 
result  is  that  the  same  ground  is  traversed  over  and  over 
again  ;  cases  are  reported  as  unique  and  inexplicable  which, 
when  compared  with  accounts  of  others  buried  in  obscure 
periodicals,  or  collections  of  observations,  fall  into  their 
proper  places,  and  both  receive  and  give  explanation." 

The  medical  library  is  indispensable  to  the  practitioner  or 
student  who  wotdd  know  his  profession  ;  and  yet,  for  the 
most  part,  the  collections  are  very  insignificant.  Of  the  two 
hundred  and  fifty  or  three  hundred  thousand  volumes  in 
the  United  States,  the  three  cities — ^Washington,  New  York, 
and  Philadelphia — contain  four  fifths  ;  one  third  of  the  one 
hundred  and  twenty-six  schools  reporting  none.  The  col- 
lection in  the  last  city  is  regarded  as  valuable,  though  that 
in  the  Surgeon-General's  oflice,  at  Washington,  is  incom- 
parably superior,  not  only  to  all  others  in  that  city,  but,  in 
numbers  and  character,  outranking  any  other  in  this  coun- 
try.    It  contains  eighty  thousand  volumes. 

To  the  bar,  the  need  of  well-stocked  libraries  of  the  pro- 
fession becomes  daily  more  urgent.     The  rapid  multiplica- 

*  Dr.  Billings,  "Public  Libraries  of  the  United  States,"  p.  171. 
20 


302       THE  PERIOD  OF  REORGANIZATION. 

tion  of  reports  complicates  incalculably  the  practice  of  the 
profession.  It  is  estimated  that,  including  the  judicial  re- 
ports of  the  English,  Irish,  Scotch,  and  American  com-ts, 
standard  treatises  and  digests  and  the  statute  laws  of  these 
countries,  "  a  fairly  complete  library  would  embrace,  approx- 
imately, seventy-five  hundred  volumes,  and  cost  not  less 
than  fifty  thousand  dollars.  The  principal  center  for  this 
class  of  literature  is  New  York,  with  its  eighty-two  thousand 
volumes.  Boston  has  fifty  thousand,  and  San  Francisco 
forty  thousand.  The  Bar  Association  Library  of  Washing- 
ton— the  only  one  in  the  city— catalogues  but  five  thousand 
volumes  ;  though  it  is  supplemented  by  a  vast  collection  of 
books  more  or  less  closely  bearing  upon  the  profession,  and 
a  large  number,  the  most  valuable  of  all,  in  the  Government 
departments,  estimated  at  two  hundred  thousand  volumes. 
Of  the  forty-five  law  schools,  fourteen  report  no  libraries. 
Harvard  (1817)  has  twenty -two  thousand  volumes,  particu- 
larly full  in  Roman  jurisprudence  and  the  commercial  law 
of  Continental  Europe.  That  of  Yale,  formed  later,  is  much 
smaller  (nine  thousand  volumes),  but  fairly  complete  in 
English  and  American  reports  and  international  law.  The 
earliest  collection  seems  to  have  been  that  of  the  Philadel- 
phia Law  Association  (1802),  though  the  Social  Law  Library 
of  Boston  is  nearly  as  old.  Besides  these,  two  Courts  of 
Appeals  in  New  York,  Middlesex  County,  Massachusetts, 
and  Harvard,  possessed  the  only  ones  prior  to  1835. 

(7.)  State  Libraries. 

Supplementary  to  collections  of  law  books  proper  are  sev- 
eral State  libraries,  which  because  of  their  character  very 
naturally  follow  them.  There  are  forty-seven  of  these  in 
the  several  States  and  Territories,  having  nearly  a  million 
volumes.  They  include  public  docimients  of  every  kind — 
local  and  national,  legislative,  judicial,  and  administrative. 
Some  of  them  were  formed  very  early,  though  perhaps  none 
before  the  Revolution.  There  was  one  in  Philadelphia  in 
1777,  others  in  New  Jersey  and  New  Hampshire  twenty 


LEARNED  SOCIETIES  AND  LIBRARIES.  303 

years  later,  and  similar  ones  in  Pennsylvania,  Ohio,  New 
York,  Illinois,  Kentucky,  Virginia,  and  Indiana,  all  before 

1825. 

(8.)  Government  Libraries, 

Government  Libraries  are  of  two  kinds :  1.  The  Congres- 
sional Library ;  2.  The  department  libraries. 

While  the  seat  of  the  national  Government  was  at  Phila- 
delphia, officials  used  the  local  City  Library.  Immediately 
upon  the  removal  to  Washington  (1800),  Congress  appro- 
priated five  thousand  dollars  to  be  expended  in  the  purchase 
of  books  "  for  the  use  of  the  two  Houses  of  Congress  and  the 
members  thereof."  Two  years  later  an  annual  appropriation 
was  ordered  and  permanent  regulations  adopted.  It  was 
provided  that  the  librai-y  should  be  open  freely  to  the  Presi- 
dent, heads  of  departments,  judges  and  attaches  of  the  courts, 
members  and  ofiicers  of  the  two  Houses,  the  diplomatic 
corps,  and,  later,  to  the  Secretary  and  Eegents  of  the  Smith- 
sonian Institution. 

The  library  grew  slowly,  having  twelve  years  after  (1814) 
but  three  thousand  books,  which  in  the  one  day's  occupation 
of  the  city  by  tlie  British  were  entirely  destroyed  by  fire. 
The  year  following,  Jefferson's  private  library  was  pur- 
chased. A  generation  later  (1851)  a  second  fire  destroyed  two 
thirds  of  the  collection,  including  works  on  English  and 
European  history,  the  arts,  sciences,  literature,  and  voyages, 
leaving  but  twenty  thousand  volumes.  Then  was  erected 
an  iron  finished  biiilding.  In  eight  years  the  library  had 
added  fifty  thousand  volumes,  and  was  receiving  an  annual 
appropriation  of  ten  thousand  dollars.  In  1866  it  was  given 
the  Smithsonian  deposit,  and  the  next  year  the  Peter  Force 
Library  of  "  Colonization  and  History  of  the  United  States," 
numbering  sixty  thousand  volumes.  The  enactment  of  the 
copyright  law  (1870),  requiring  the  deposit  of  two  copies  of 
each  published  work,  makes  about  twelve  thousand  entries 
annually.  The  books  now  number  nearly  six  hundred  thou- 
sand, besides  two  hundred  thousand  pamphlets,  and  are  open 
in  the  room  to  all  who  choose  to  use  them. 


304: 


THE  PERIOD  OF  REORGANIZATION. 


Besides  the  Congressional  Library,  most  of  the  depart- 
ments have  special  collections,  some  of  which  are  very  com- 
plete and  valuable.  In  addition  to  those  indicated  in  the 
table  there  are  libraries  at  each  military  post  and  garrison, 
at  army  headquarters,  at  the  National  Soldiers'  Homes,  and 
on  naval  and  merchant  vessels,  aggregating  two  hundred 
thousand  volumes, 

Oovernment  Department  lAbrariea. 


DEPARTMENTS. 


1.  State 

2.  Treasury 

3.  Senate 

4.  House 

5.  Executive  Mansion  . 

6.  Coast  Survey 

7.  War 

8.  Military  Academy  . . 

9.  Naval  Observatory  . 

10.  Naval  Academy .... 

11.  Bureau  of  Education 

12.  Patent-Office 

13.  Judiciary 

14u  Agriculture 


Volumes. 


23,000 


16,000 

20,000 

100,000 

2,000 

5,000 

15,000 

30,000 

10,000 

10,000 

25,000 

80,000 

15,000 
20,000 


Character. 


Diplomatic  history,  economics, 
voyages ;  1,000  volumes  Eng- 
lisQ  newspapers. 

A  complete  set  of  state  papers. 
Legislative  and  executive. 

Scientific  works  and  journals. 


Larpe  pedagogical  collection. 
Best  technological  library  in  the 
United  States. 

Very  complete  in  agricultural 
science  and  reports  of  agricult- 
ural and  scientific  societies  in 
Europe  and  America. 


(9.)  College  Libraries. 

Among  the  most  important  of  all  the  classes  named  is 
the  college  library.  It  was  also  one  of  the  earliest.  John 
Harvard's  private  collection  started  the  first  one  simultane- 
ously with  the  first  college.  Among  the  first  donations  to 
Virginia  education  were  books  and  maps  for  the  "college." 
Yale  had  a  like  beginning  ;  and  yet  in  a  diflPerent  sense  the 
modem  college  library  is  important.  It  is  both  less  and 
more  valued ;  less  a  general  possession,  more  as  a  special  in- 
strument. It  is  not  now  always  the  first  step  in  the  found- 
ing of  colleges.    Forty  existing  institutions  report  none. 


LEARNED  SOCIETIES  AXD  LIBRARIES.  305 

The  total  catalogue  of  three  hundred  and  six  libraries  is 
something  over  three  million  volumes.  Twenty-four  insti- 
tutions, only,  report  more  than  twenty-five  thousand  vol- 
umes each  ;  nine  have  sixty  thousand  or  more. 

A  good  college  library  is  a  thing  of  growth.  But  four  of 
these  twenty-four  larger  ones  were  started  since  1860 :  Lehigh 
(1866),  CorneU  (1868),  University  of  California  (1869),  and 
Johns  Hopkins  (1876). 

This  is  one  of  the  characteristics  of  the  contemporary 
library :  it  is  coming  to  be  adapted  in  kind  and  conditions  to 
the  use  to  be  made  of  it.  It  is  made  a  laboratory,  a  work- 
shop. To  the  student  it  becomes  the  starting-point  for  re- 
search, the  source  of  adjustments  and  verifications  of  knowl- 
edge. It  is  indispensable  in  the  study  of  history  and  lan- 
guage, but  scarcely  less  to  the  student  of  science  who  would 
avoid  the  needless  repetition  of  observations  and  established 
conclusions.  Much  use  of  books  by  associated  departments 
tends  to  set  off  the  mass  of  books  into  special  libraries,  each 
with  a  particular  character.  So  a  university  will  have  its 
general  library,  society  libraries,  and  professional  libraries. 
It  may  have,  further,  its  mathematical  references  or  biologi- 
cal or  psycho-physical ;  its  historical  and  philosophical ;  ap- 
pliances made  constantly  available  for  special  studies;  not 
so  many  catalogued  volumes,  but  trusted  authorities.  This 
is  true  of  all  the  eight  or  ten  largest  collections.  Not  that 
they  are  kept  in  separate  buildings  or  under  independent 
management ;  indeed,  they  are  not  generally  so  controlled. 
But,  with  the  greater  independence  of  departments  and  the 
larger  option  among  courses  and  the  narrowing  of  special- 
ties, comes  the  need  for  a  more  systematic  use  of  technical 
authorities  and  references  and  an  adapted  literature.  With 
such  interpretation  the  library  is  no  longer  a  place  in  which 
to  lounge,  but  an  instrument  to  be  used;  and  so  around 
well -managed  libraries  have  grown  up  seminaries  for 
special  inquiry,  and  societies,  and  a  contributing  litera- 
ture, and  subject  alcoves,  of  great  variety  and  of  yet  great- 
er service. 


306  THE  PERIOD  OF  REORGANIZATION. 

Another  device  for  making  the  library  more  generally 
available  and  useful  is  the  classified  subject  index.  Not  a 
few  smaU  libraries  of  well-chosen  books  are  made  doubly 
serviceable  through  the  use  of  catalogues  so  arranged  as  to 
place  within  easy  reach  their  material.  Next  in  importance 
to  the  free  use  of  books  is  the  very  extensive  utilization  of 
magazine,  newspaper,  and  other  current  literature  as  sources 
of  information  bearing  upon  studies.  Judiciously  selected 
pamphlet  collections  are  of  incalculable  value.  The  geo- 
graphical and  educational  and  economic  bureaus  of  the 
Johns  Hopkins  University  illustrate  this  function.  Most 
colleges  sustain  reading-rooms  of  substantial  literature,  also 
brought  by  index  into  the  regular  current  of  the  library 
service.  Columbia  has  ten  thousand  pamphlets,  Cornell  fif- 
teen thousand,  Michigan  as  many,  Yale  forty  thousand,  and 
Harvard  two  hundred  and  seventy  thousand. 

So  important  are  the  management  and  use  of  these  col- 
lections considered  in  the  best  colleges,  that  in  more  than 
one  institution  they  have  come  to  be  subjects  of  study.  The 
Columbia  College  "  School  of  Library  Economy  "  (1883)  is  a 
well-organized  enterprise  that  in  a  more  or  less  complete 
way  is  being  tried  at  Johns  Hopkins  University,  Cornell, 
Harvard,  Michigan,  and  elsewhere,  both  East  and  West. 
Rochester  University,  New  York,  has  given  annual  lectures 
on  the  founding,  control,  and  development  of  libraries  since 
1880.  At  Columbia  the  faculty  of  the  School  of  Library 
Economy  consists  of  nine  instructors,  including  the  di- 
rector and  twenty  to  thirty  special  non-resident  lecturers 
annually. 

The  course  includes  lectures  and  observations  on : 

1.  Library  economy. 

2.  The  scope  and  usefulness  of  libraries. 

3.  The  founding  and  extension  of  libraries. 

4.  Buildings. 

5.  Government  and  service. 

6.  Begulations  for  readers. 

7.  Administration,  catalogue,  references,  loan,  etc 


THE  GENERAL  GOVERNMENT  AND  EDUCATION.   307 

8.  Libraries  on  special  subjects. 

9.  General  libraries. 

10.  Libraries  of  special  countries  or  sections. 

11.  Reading  and  aids. 

12.  Literary  methods. 

13.  Bibliography. 

14.  Catalogues  of  general  collections. 

Bibliography. 

"  The  Literary  Influence  of  Academies,"  by  M.  Arnold ;  "  Learned 
Societies,"  by  J.  Farrar,  " North  American  Review,"  vol.  viii,  p.  IS*?; 
Warren  and  Clark,  "  Public  Libraries  in  the  United  States,"  l%1&  ;  "  Col- 
lege Libraries  as  Aids  to  Instruction,"  published  by  the  Bureau  of  Edu- 
cation ;  "Free  Public  Libraries,"  T.  Greenwood,  1886;  "Libraries  and 
Schools,"  by  S.  S.  Green,  1883 ;  "  Libraries  and  Readers,"  by  W.  E.  Fos- 
ter, 1883;  "  District  School  Libraries,"  Horace  Mann,  Lecture  VI;  also 
"  Relation  of  Libraries  to  General  Education,"  Horace  Mann,  "  Third  Re- 
port," 1839.  Of  incalculable  value  is  the  "Library  Journal,"  edited  by 
M.  Dewey,  New  York. 


CHAPTER  XVII. 

THE  GEKERAL  GOVERNMENT  AND  EDUCATION. 

The  modern  representative  Government,  like  the  contem- 
porary Church,  is  an  organized  protest  against  the  dominance 
of  unreasoning  authority,  from  whatever  source.  Nevei*the- 
less,  the  national  Government  in  this  country  has  had  a  large 
share  in  the  control  and  direction  of  educational  thought 
and  institutions. 

It  has  created  and  repeatedly  enlarged  school  funds,  first 
and  directly,  by  appropriations  of  land,  to  the  common 
schools,  academies,  and  universities ;  and  indirectly,  through 
the  stirplus  revenue  deposit,  and  the  three  per  cent  of  public 
land  sales.  It  is  officially  charged  with  the  education  of  the 
Indians  and  Alaskans ;  provides  generously  for  military  and 


308       THE  PERIOD  OF  REORGANIZATION. 

naval  education,  both  in  the  two  national  institutions  and  in 
established  colleges  and  universities  in  the  States;  furnishes 
homes  and  instruction  to  many  hundred  soldiers'  orphans, 
and  has  with  rare  wisdom  contributed  millions  to  the  school- 
ing of  the  impoverished  South.  The  true  spirit  of  republi- 
canism has  never  opposed  any  centralization  that  looked  to 
the  greater  general  good.  And  to  the  service  of  the  Govern- 
ment in  the  particulars  named,  must  be  added  another  chap- 
ter treating  of  the  National  Bureau  of  Education,  the  Smith- 
sonian Institution,  and  the  general  scientific  work  carried 
on  through  its  departments. 

1.  Tlie  Bureau  of  Education. 

Pinckney,  of  South  Carolina,  Madison,  of  Virginia,  Mor- 
ris, of  New  York,  the  wise  Jefferson,  and  a  half-dozen  other 
contemporary  statesmen,  advocated  the  establishment  of  a 
national  university,  "  for  the  advancement  of  useful  knowl- 
edge, and  the  promotion  of  agriculture,  commerce,  trades, 
and  manufactures."  The  idea,  in  some  form,  has  since  come 
up  in  almost  every  administration. 

In  his  message  to  the  two  Houses  of  Congress  in  1790, 
Washington's  often-quoted  words  were  full  of  wisdom  and 
rare  foresight.  "  Knowledge,"  he  says,  "  is  in  every  country 
the  surest  basis  of  pubhc  happiness.  In  one  in  which  the 
measures  of  government  receive  their  impressions  so  imme- 
diately as  in  ours,  from  the  sense  of  the  community,  it  is 
projKtrtionally  essential.  .  ,  .  Whether  this  will  be  best  pro- 
moted," he  continued,  ''by  affording  aid  to  seminaries  of 
learning  already  established,  by  the  institution  of  a  national 
university,  or  by  any  other  expedients,  will  be  well  worthy  a 
place  in  the  deliberations  of  the  Legislature."  Six  years 
later  he  urged  immediate  attention  to  the  improvement  of 
agriculture  as  a  fundamental  concern  in  this  country,  and 
recommended  "the  creation  of  a  national  central  agency, 
charged  with  collecting  and  diffusing  information,  and  en- 
abled by  premiums  and  small  pecuniary  aids  to  encourage 
and  assist  a  spirit  of  discovery  and  improvement."    Twenty 


THE  GENERAL  GOVERNMENT  AND  EDUCATION.  309 

years  after  the  address  just  quoted,  M.  Julian,  a  Frenchman, 
urged  upon  his  Government  the  comprehensive  and  com- 
parative study  of  educational  questions  through  a  national 
establishment,  whose  duty  it  should  be  "  to  collect  the  mate- 
rial for  a  general  report  on  the  scholastic  institutions  and  on 
methods  of  instruction  in  the  different  European  states." 

The  need  for  such  an  agency  in  this  country  early  at- 
tracted the  attention  of  educators.  The  teachers  of  Essex 
County,  Massachusetts,  in  association  1849,  voted  to  petition 
Congess  to  established  a  "  bureau  in  the  home  department 
for  promoting  public  education."  Fifteen  years  later,  at  the 
sixth  meeting  of  the  National  Educational  Association,  a 
paper  was  read  and  discussed  on  the  subject  of  a  "  National 
Bureau  of  Education,"  for  the  establishment  of  which  the 
intelligence  and  interest  of  the  country  were  pledged.  The 
year  following.  Bishop  Fraser,  after  emphasizing  the  impor- 
tance of  a  more  general  supervision,  commended  the  grow- 
ing sentiment  in  the  States  in  favor  of  a  central  agency.  In 
1866  the  attention  of  the  National  Educational  Association 
was  turned  toward  the  subject  in  a  practical  way.  At  the 
first  meeting  of  the  Section  of  School  Superintendents,  held 
in  Washington  that  year,  a  committee,  of  which  State  School 
Commissioner  E.  E.  White,  of  Ohio,  was  chairman,  was  ap- 
pointed to  memorialize  Congress  on  the  establishment  of 
such  a  bureau.  This  memorial  was  presented  in  the  House 
of  Eepresentatives,  in  June  of  the  same  year,  by  Hon.  James 
A.  Garfield,  in  a  speech  which  is  rich  in  the  history  of  the 
educational  sentiment  of  this  country.  After  some  unim- 
portant modifications  the  bill  passed  both  Houses,  and  on  the 
16th  of  March,  1867,  Hon.  Henry  Barnard  was  appointed  first 
"United  States  Commissioner  of  Education." 

Originally  created  a  Department,  it  was  two  years  later 
made  a  Bureau  of  the  Interior,  as  it  remains.  Mr.  Barnard 
held  the  ofiice  but  three  years,  and  was  succeeded  by  Hon. 
John  Eaton,  who  resigned  in  1886.  The  present  commis- 
sioner is  Hon.  N.  H.  E.  Dawson.  The  function  of  the  bureau 
is :  1.  To  collect  such  statistics  and  facts  as  shall  show  the 


310  THE  PERIOD  OF  REORGANIZATION. 

condition  and  progress  of  education  in  the  several  States  and 
territories  ;  and,  2.  To  diffuse  such  information  respecting 
the  organization  and  management  of  schools  and  school  sys- 
tems, and  methods  of  teaching,  as  shall  aid  the  people  of  the 
United  States  in  the  establishment  and  maintenance  of  effi- 
cient school  systems,  and  otherwise  promote  the  cause  of 
education  throughout  the  country. 

A.  BURKAU  PDBUCATIONS. 

The  office  issues  an  annual  rejwrt,  and  publishes  occa- 
sional circulars  of  information,  besides  carrying  on  an  ex- 
tensive correspondence  in  both  hemispheres.  Its  nineteen 
reports  make  a  valuable  statement  of  a  most  interesting 
period  of  our  educational  history.  They  completely  cover 
the  quarter  of  a  century  since  the  war,  and  shed  a  flood  of 
light  upon  the  saving  influences  of  a  right  training  of  youth. 
Among  the  sixty  or  seventy  circulars  are  included  discus- 
sions of  American  and  foreign  systems;  elementary,  sec- 
ondary, and  collegiate  instruction,  and  various  phases  of 
them  ;  industrial,  physical,  and  art  training  ;  Kindergar- 
ten and  normal  schools;  school  architecture,  expositions, 
and  legislation  ;  besides  methods  in  particular  branches  of 
the  curriculum.  Its  special  reports  on  "  Medical  Education," 
"  Public  Libraries,"  "  Education  and  Labor,"  and  "  Education 
and  Crime,"  the  "Theory  of  American  Education,"  and 
"City  School  Systems  of  the  United  States,"  would  be  of 
incalculable  service  if  studied  by  every  teacher. 

B.  PEDAGOGICAL   LIBBART. 

In  the  prosecution  of  its  official  duties  there  has  been 
collected  an  educational  library,  in  size  and  richness  unsur- 
passed in  this  country.  It  contains  eighteen  thousand  vol- 
umes and  about  fifty  thousand  pamphlets.  It  is  full  in  more 
or  less  disconnected  and  diffuse  but  original  material  for 
the  history  of  American  education.  This  includes  State  and 
city  reports,  American  and  foreign  educational  journals, 
catalogues  and  special  publications  of  colleges  and  other 


THE  GENERAL  GOVERNMENT  AND  EDUCATION.   311 

educational  bodies,  scientific  periodicals  and  papers,  besides 
a  large  collection  of  American  text-books  and  foreign  school 
documents. 

0.    PEDAGOGICAL    MUSEUM. 

In  addition  to  the  library  and  supplementing  it,  the 
bureau  has  the  beginnings  of  an  admirable  educational 
museum.  It  consists  of  clay  and  other  models  of  primitive 
and  civilized  industry ;  art-work  from  city  schools ;  globes, 
maps,  charts,  herbaria,  school  cabinets,  portraits  and  busts 
of  educators  ;  Kindergarten  and  industrial  exhibits,  besides 
specimens  of  apparatus  and  furniture. 

S.  The  Smithsonian  Institution. 

About  this  institution  cluster  some  of  the  most  grateful 
recollections  and  the  most  cherished  hopes  of  science.  Its 
history  is  a  record  of  enviable  service. 

In  the  year  1829  there  died  in  Genoa  an  Englishman, 
James  Smithson.  He  had  spent  his  life  in  travel  and  study. 
Devoted  to  science,  and  a  man  of  leisure,  he  became  an  in- 
vestigator and  author.  In  an  authorized  biography  of  him 
is  given  a  list  of  twenty  pai)ei'S  published  by  him,  mono- 
graphs chiefly,  on  scientific  subjects,  showing  not  only  a 
comprehensive  interest  and  knowledge,  but  a  familiarity 
with  the  latest  achievements  of  science.  He  was  educated 
at  Oxford,  and  was  a  member  of  the  Eoyal  Society.  He  re- 
mained unmarried,  never  visited  the  United  States,  and,  so 
far  as  known,  in  political  sympathies  was  undemocratic. 
He  belonged  to  the  English  aristocracy,  and  to  the  house  of 
Percy  made  famous  by  Scott  and  Shakespeare.* 

A.    THE    SMITHSON   BEQUEST. 

Notwithstanding  his  English  citizenship  and  his  undemo- 
cratic instincts,  upon  his  death  the  United  States  Government 
was  made  by  provisional  bequest  the  trustee  of  his  large  es- 

*  "Smithsonian  Miscellaneous  Collections,"  vol.  xvii,  pp.  151, 152. 


312  THE  PERIOD  OF  REORGANIZATION. 

tate.  The  property  was  to  go  to  his  nephew;  but,  if  he 
should  die  without  heirs,  should  be  committed  to  the  United 
States  (save  a  small  annuity)  "  to  found  at  Washington,  un- 
der the  name  of  the  Smithsonian  Institution,  an  establish- 
ment for  the  increase  and  diffusion  of  knowledge  among 
men."  Upon  the  death  of  this  relative,  Henry  James  Hun- 
gerford  (1835),  the  United  States  Government  was  informed 
from  London  of  the  conditions  of  the  bequest,  and  the  Hon. 
Richard  Rush  dispatched  to  receive  it.  The  net  amount  was 
five  hundred  and  eight  thousand  three  hundred  and  eighteen 
dollars,  to  which  were  afterward  added  some  small  sums, 
making  in  the  aggregate  about  five  hundred  and  fifty  thou- 
sand dollars. 

B.   PLANS  PBOPOSED. 

Much  doubt  existed  as  to  the  original  design  of  the  testa- 
tor, and  yet  more  as  to  the  means  to  be  employed.  It  took 
Congress  nine  years  to  decide  upon  its  disposition.  The  one 
condition,  to  provide  "  for  the  increase  and  diffusion  of 
knowledge  among  men,"  is  very  general. 

The  impression  almost  uniformly  present  at  first  was  that 
Mr.  Smithson  meant  to  bestow  his  fortune  upon  tlie  cause  of 
education,  and  that  a  school  or  college  or  university  was  the 
only  mode  of  meeting  the  condition.  So  it  was  argued  that 
this  shoxild  be  one  of  a  number  of  colleges  toward  the  crea- 
tion of  a  national  university,  the  possession  of  which  had 
been  the  hope  of  statesmen  and  scholars  from  the  times  of 
Washington  and  Jefferson.  Others  would  have  the  annual 
income  used  to  maintain  a  cabinet  of  natural  history,  a  mu- 
seum, or  a  general  accumulating  library.  Indeed,  this  last 
had  the  strongest  minority  support  from  Rufus  Choate  and 
others.  It  was  suggested  that  the  money  be  made  a  primary 
school  fund  for  the  city  of  Washington  or  for  infant  and 
Sunday  school  encouragement  throughout  the  United  States, 
or  that  it  be  applied  to  geographical  or  other  explorations. 
One  party  (to  the  credit  of  our  representatives  a  small  one) 
proposed  to  refund  the  money  to  James  Smithson's  brother, 
his  proper  heir,  on  the  ground  that  the  United  States  could 


THE  GENERAL  GOVERNMENT  AND  EDUCATION.   313 

not  legally  become  a  trustee  for  individual  benefactors.  It 
is  needless  to  say  the  better  judgments  prevailed.  The  trust 
had  been  accepted,  and  its  right  use  was  a  sacred  obligation. 
It  was  early  agreed  by  the  committee  to  whom  the  whole 
question  was  referred,  and  of  which  John  Quincy  Adams 
was  chairman,  that  "  no  part  of  the  fund  should  be  applied 
to  the  education  of  children  or  youth  nor  to  the  establish- 
ment or  support  of  any  school,  college,  or  university,  insti- 
tute of  education,  nor  ecclesiastical  establishment."  It  was 
then  proposed  that  there  should  be  founded  an  institution  for 
physical  research,  contributing  to  agriculture,  war,  engineer- 
ing, architecture,  mining,  commerce,  and  manufactures. 
John  Quincy  Adams  pleaded  for  a  great  astronomical  obser- 
vatory rivaling  those  of  Greenwich  and  Paris ;  Mr.  Tappan 
for  an  institution  after  the  plan  of  the  Jardin  des  Plantes  in 
Paris.  The  best  educated  sentiment  was  converging  upon 
an  agency  of  physical  or  general  research ;  that  a  part  or  all 
of  the  proceeds  of  the  fund  should  be  appropriated  "to  a 
system  of  annual  awards  "  for  original  contributions  to  sci- 
ence and  the  useful  arts,  scientific  collections,  the  publica- 
tion of  scientific  communications,  and  provisions  for  lectures. 
The  very  approach  to  the  final  organization  in  its  delibera- 
tion, and  the  all-sided  regard  for  tdtimate  efficiency,  are  pro- 
phetic of  the  conservative  and  comprehensive  service  of  the 
subsequent  management. 

C.    THE    OnGANlZATION. 

The  formal  act  establishing  the  institution  passed  in  1847, 
the  corporation  being  made  to  consist  of  the  President,  Vice- 
President,  members  of  the  Cabinet,  the  Chief-Justice  of  the 
Supreme  Court,  the  Commissioner  of  Patents,  the  Mayor  of 
Washington,  and  such  other  persons  as  these  may  elect  to 
honorary  membership.  The  immediate  supervision  rests 
with  a  Board  of  Regents  comi)osed  of  the  Vice-President 
and  Chief-Justice,  the  Mayor  of  Washington,  three  senators, 
three  representatives,  and  six  other  persons,  two  of  whom 
shall  be  residents  of  Washington,  D.  C,  and  four  from  the 


314  THE  PERIOD  OF  REORGANIZATION. 

States,  no  two  from  any  one.  From  the  Board  of  Regents 
one  is  chosen  to  be  Chancellor,  and  by  them  a  local  execu- 
tive officer  called  "secretary." 

The  plan  of  internal  organization  as  submitted  by  Prof. 
Joseph  Henry,  first  secretary,  and  as  finally  adopted,  in- 
cluded the  following  provisions:  Toward  the  increase  of 
knowledge — 1.  Such  systematic  encouragement  should  be 
given  as  would  stimulate  to  original  research  by  rewards 
for  scientific  memoirs ;  2.  An  annual  appropriation  of  money 
should  be  made  sufficient  to  generously  compensate  physical 
research.  Further,  looking  to  the  diffusion  of  knowledge, 
there  should  be  published :  1.  Regular  reports  on  the  prog- 
ress of  different  branches  of  knowledge ;  2.  Occasionally, 
as  may  be  advisable,  separate  and  less  formal  treatises  on 
subjects  of  general  interest.  More  specifically  the  organiza- 
tion was  made  to  include  :  1.  A  museum  ;  2.  A  chemical 
laboratory;  3.  A  library;  4.  A  gallery  of  art;  5.  Lecture- 
rooms. 

The  botanical  collection  was,  after  some  years,  trans- 
ferred to  the  Agricultural  Department,  and  to  the  Army 
Medical  Museum  certain  articles  of  professional  interest. 
The  library  early  acquired  a  valuable  and,  for  this  country, 
a  rare  collection  of  books,  including  philosophical  and 
scientific  transactions  of  learned  societies  throughout  the 
world.  These  were  finally  turned  over  to  the  Congressional 
Library  (1866),  where  are  annually  deposited  copies  of  its 
exchanges,  and  publications  of  whatever  kind.  Carrying 
out  the  spirit  of  the  original  design — to  co-operate  with  exist- 
ing societies  and  institutions  as  far  as  possible — the  accumu- 
lations of  the  Art  Grallery  were  deposited  with  the  Corcoran 
Ai"t  Exhibit,  in  Washington ;  and,  upon  rebuilding  in  1865, 
after  the  fire,  by  which  both  buildings  and  records  were 
destroyed,  it  was  decided  to  discontinue  the  regular  lect- 
ures. There  remains,  then,  the  simple  and  single  function 
of  carrying  forward,  on  a  liberal  scale,  systematic  physical 
research,  and  the  publication  to  the  world  of  its  verified 
conclusions.    It  has  been  from  the  founding,  and  remains, 


THE  GENERAL  GOVERNMENT  AND  EDUCATION.   315 

the  policy  of  the  regents  and  the  secretary  to  do  no  work  of 
investigation  or  collection  or  diffusion  of  knowledge,  that 
is  being  done,  or  can  be  as  well  undertaken,  by  existing 
agencies. 

Extensive  researches  have  been  made  in  the  broad  field 
of  ethnology,  in  the  much-worked  but  promising  one  of 
astronomy,  besides  the  more  common  fields  of  science  and 
meteorology  ;  most  of  the  last,  however,  being  recently 
transferred  to  the  Signal-Service  Bureau. 

D.    PUBLICATIONS. 

The  publications  of  the  institution  are  of  three  kinds :  1. 
Contributions  to  knowledge.  2.  Miscellaneous  collections. 
3.  Annual  reports.  Of  the  first  there  have  been  about  one 
hundred  and  fifty  volumes,  in  which  appear  only  memoirs, 
records  of  extensive  original  investigation  and  researches 
resulting  in  what  are  believed  to  be  new  truths,  and  to  con- 
stitute positive  additions  to  the  sum  of  human  knowledge. 
The  miscellaneous  collections  comprise  a  series  begun  in 
1862,  to  present  reports  on  the  current  state  of  our  knowl- 
edge on  particular  branches  of  science ;  instructions  for  col- 
lecting and  digesting  facts ;  lists  and  synopses  of  species  in 
the  organic  and  inorganic  worlds ;  museum  catalogues ;  re- 
ports of  explorations ;  aids  to  bibliographical  investigations, 
etc.  Of  these  there  are  something  more  than  a  hundred  vol- 
umes ;  and  of  the  annual  reports  thirty-eight.  Besides  these 
there  are  the  occasional  bulletins  of  the  National  Museum, 
and  reports  of  special  bureaus ;  the  latter  including  ethno- 
logical studies  of  great  value. 

E.   THE   NATIONAL   MUSEUM. 

Not  the  least  important  part  of  the  Smithsonian  organi- 
zation is  the  "National  Museum."  In  the  original  act  of 
establishment  (1846)  it  was  provided  that  "  all  objects  of  art, 
and  of  foreign  and  curious  research,  and  all  objects  of  natu- 
ral history,  plants,  and  geological  and  mineralogical  speci- 
mens, belonging  or  hereafter  to  belong  to  the  United  States, 


316       THE  PERIOD  OP  REORGANIZATION. 

which  may  be  in  Washing'ton,  and  such  like  collections 
made  by  the  C!oast  and  Interior  Surveys,  or  by  any  other 
parties  for  the  Government  of  the  United  States,  shall  be 
deposited  in  the  rooms  provided  by  the  Smithsonian  Institu- 
tion." This  large  accumulation  of  materials,  besides  being  a 
record  of  past  investigations,  and  affording  a  stimulus  to 
and  opi)ortunity  for  research,  is  an  educational  agency  of 
the  most  comprehensive  reach.  The  materials  are  arranged 
in  five  divisions : 

I.  Anthropology,  with  three  departments. 
II.  Zoology,  with  ten  departments. 

III.  Botany,  in  two  departments. 

IV.  Geology,  in  three  departments. 

V.  Exploration  and  Experiment,  in  four  departments. 

Every  precaution  is  taken  to  make  its  resources  service- 
able to  their  intelligent  use.  Persons  not  officers  of  the 
institution  may  obtain  access  to  the  collection,  for  purposes 
of  study,  by  filing  an  application,  which  must  be  indorsed 
by  the  director.  It  has  been  described  as  "  the  best  record 
of  original  research  and  investigation  ever  made  in  this 
country." 

Altogether,  it  may  be  said,  no  institution  in  this  country 
has  more  perfectly  accomplished  its  object,  and  none  con- 
tributed more  generously  to  either  the  increase  or  the  diffu- 
sion of  knowledge,  than  the  Smithsonian  Institution.  Its 
studies  of  the  antiquities  of  America,  and  the  encouragement 
given  to  such  studies  by  others,  have  more  than  justified  its 
establishment  and  recognition  by  Government. 

S.  Special  Scientific  Work. 

X.  TH£  COAST  SCRTET. 

Among  the  earliest  departments,  and,  at  that  time,  in  an 
undeveloped  country,  the  most  important,  as  it  is  to-day  per- 
haps the  best  matured  of  any  in  the  comprehensive  system 
of  scientific  work  by  the  Greneral  Government,  is  that  of  the 


THE  GENERAL  GOVERNMENT  AND  EDUCATION.   317 

United  States  Coast  Survey.  Its  inauguration  marks  an 
epoch  in  the  growth  of  a  national  spirit.  It  dignified  na- 
tional interests  and  influence. 

The  enterprise  was  established  under  President  Jefferson 
(1807),  and  was  designed  primarily  to  furnish  accurate  maps 
of  the  coast ;  to  determine  positions  for,  and  establish  nauti- 
cal and  other  signals  ;  to  determine  and  mark  the  course  and 
conditions  of  shore-currents,  tides,  and  prevailing  winds, 
and  whatever  should  contribute  to  the  safety  and  efficiency 
of  domestic  and  foreign  commerce  in  our  ports.  The  survey 
was  put  in  charge  of  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  and 
work  ordered  after  plans  submitted  by  Prof.  Hassler,  a  Swiss 
resident  in  this  country,  and  who  was  made  superintendent. 
Operations  were  begun  on  the  New  Jersey  coast  in  1816. 
The  commission  being  transferred  almost  immediately,  how- 
ever, to  the  army  and  navy,  the  work  was  checked.  It  was 
revived  in  1832,  and  Mr.  Hassler  reappointed  superintend- 
ent. At  his  death  (1844)  he  was  succeeded  by  Prof.  A.  D. 
Bache,  with  whom  the  present  system  may  be  said  to  have 
commenced.  For  twenty  years  he  was  center  and  compass 
of  the  greatest  single  educational  and  scientific  enterprise  the 
Government  has  ever  undertaken.  Under  his  direction  both 
Pacific  and  Atlantic  coast  lines  were  cut  into  sections,  each 
with  its  own  base-line  ;  and  the  survey  set  about  making  a 
systematic  exploration  and  map  of  the  entire  shore.  Trian- 
gulation  frequently  reached  far  inland,  and  through  subse- 
quent years  has  covered  adjacent  States  in  a  way  to  form 
the  basis  of  their  topographical  surveys — thus  rendering  a 
double  service.  About  the  year  1870  the  province  of  the  sur- 
vey was  enlarged  by  Congress,  and  the  triangulation  carried 
farther  inland,  with  a  view  of  covering  the  intervening  sec- 
tion, "  so  as  to  form  a  geodetic  connection  "  between  the  east- 
ern and  western  coasts,  determining  points  in  each  State  of 
the  Union  for  needed  local,  geological,  and  topographical 
.  surveys. 

In  addition  to  the  immediate  service  it  was  meant  to  ren- 
der— the  location  of  the  coast-line,  the  mapping  of  harbors 
21 


318  THE  PERIOD  OF  REORGANIZATION. 

and  other  inlets,  and  the  location  of  danger-signals — it  has 
made  numerous  valuable  hydrographic  and  magnetic  ob- 
servations ;  carried  on  deep-sea  soundings  and  dredgings  ; 
studied  minutely,  and  for  years,  the  tides  from  nine  hundred 
stations  ;  mapped  the  Gulf  Stream ;  perfected  determinations 
of  latitude  and  longitude  ;  contributed  data  for  calculating 
the  measurements  and  curvature  of  the  earth,  and  corrected 
variations  of  the  magnetic  needle.  How  much  has  been  ac- 
complished in  all  these  respects,  or  in  each,  and  how  emi- 
nently serviceable  have  been  the  conclusions  both  to  eco- 
nomics and  to  abstract  science,  can  not  easily  be  overstated ; 
its  contributions  to  the  "  general  welfare  "  give  it  a  promi- 
nent place  in  the  functions  of  the  national  Government.  It 
has  been  pronounced  by  Mr.  J.  D.  Whitney  "  the  only  great 
scientific  work  in  this  country,  which  has  been  uninterrupt- 
edly carried  on  for  any  considerable  time  ;  and  one  of  the 
few  things  done  under  the  authority  of  the  General  Govern- 
ment in  which  every  American  citizen  can  take  pride." 

B.    GEOORATHICAL    SURTETS. 

The  Department  of  the  Interior  early  made  surveys  and 
explorations  in  the  unoccupied  territory  of  the  Great  West. 
At  the  opening  of  the  present  century  much  of  the  territory 
lying  between  the  Mississippi  and  the  Pacific  was  a  wild 
region.  Till  the  second  quarter  of  the  century  the  Utah 
Basin  was  unknown,  and  far  into  the  third  quarter  much 
of  Nevada  and  adjoining  parts.  To  map  its  domain  was 
one  of  the  first  needs  of  the  Government  toward  its  settle- 
ment. 

Very  early,  therefore,  geographical  exploring  parties  had 
been  sent  into  the  more  accessible  of  the  little  known  parts. 
Lewis  and  Clark  made  their  memorable  expedition  along 
the  upper  Mis.souri  and  the  Colmnbia  in  the  three  years 
from  1804  to  1806.  Major  Pike,  a  year  later,  explored  the 
source  of  the  Rio  Grande.  Major  Long  mapped  the  Platte 
River  in  1820,  and  Lieutenant  Alien  the  head- waters  of  the 
Mississippi  twelve  years  later.    About  the  same  time  Captain 


THE  GENERAL  GOVERNMENT  AND  EDUCATION.   319 

Bonneville,  on  leave  of  absence  fi'om  the  army,  at  his  own 
cost,  and  for  love  of  science,  went  into  the  Great  Basin  region, 
and,  though  he  has  rarely  been  noticed  in  its  history,  dis- 
covered and  described  Salt  Lake.  Nicollet,  under  Grovem- 
ment,  again,  explored  and  surveyed  Minnesota;  and  Fre- 
mont, in  that  fruitful  transcontinental  tour  to  the  Pacific, 
gave  his  country  (1842-1847),  besides  new  views  of  the  Platte 
and  the  Utah  Basin,  the  now  magnificent  California.  Then 
came  the  gold  discovery  of  1849,  and  the  Pacific  Railroad 
survey  of  1852-'57  ;  the  fixing  of  the  Northwestern  boundary 
line,  and  resurveys  and  mapping  of  the  larger  Western  riv- 
ers ;  and  the  only  really  great  geographical  svirvey  of  the 
century  in  the  United  States — that  of  the  fortieth  parallel — 
begun  in  the  year  1867,  by  Clarence  King,  under  the  direc- 
tion of  the  War  Department. 

This  survey  covered  a  belt  one  hundred  miles  wide  from 
north  to  south,  and  along  the  line  of  the  Central  Pacific 
Railway,  from  the  western  boundary  of  Nevada  to  the  east- 
ern base  of  the  Rocky  Mountains.  Its  work  covered  seven 
years,  and  furnished  material  for  the  most  accurate  informa- 
tion then  had,  not  only  of  the  topography,  but  of  the  geologi- 
cal and  biological  conditions  as  well,  of  the  entire  section. 
The  published  report  comprises  six  large  volumes,  with  nu- 
merous elaborate  illustrations.    These  volumes  are : 

I.  Systematic  Geology. 

II.  Descriptive  Geology. 
in.  The  Mining  Industry. 
IV.  Paleontology  and  Ornithology. 

V.  Botany. 
VI.  Microscopic  Petrography. 

C.   GEOLOGICAL   SUBTETS. 

Many  years  before  any  such  interest  was  shown  by  Gov- 
ernment, more  or  less  systematic  attempts  were  made  by 
States  or  individuals  to  effect  local  geological  surveys.  About 
the  time  of  the  organization  of  the  Coast  Survey,  Mr.  William 


320  THE  PERIOD  OF  REORGANIZATION. 

McClure  made  a  painstaking  examination  of  the  Appalachian 
chain  and  the  Piedmont  region,  together  with  the  adjacent 
States  and  Territories.  He  continued  his  observations  for 
several  years,  and  into  the  West,  visited  the  mining  centers 
jof  Europe  and  America,  and  gave  withal  a  permanent  direc- 
tion to  geological  study  in  the  United  States.  Amos  Eaton, 
also,  under  the  generous  patronage  of  Stephen  Van  Rensse- 
laer, surveyed  the  regions  about  Albany,  New  York,  and  the 
route  of  the  Erie  Canal.  Resulting,  no  doubt,  from  these 
exhibitions  of  local  interest,  and  suggested  by  the  geograph- 
ical explorations  then  making,  fifteen  years  later  (1834)  a 
national  survey  was  undertaken,  in  the  appointment  of  G. 
W.  Featherstonhaugh,  an  Englishman,  to  examine  geologi- 
cally the  Arkansas  Territory ;  he  became,  therefore,  the  first 
"  United  States  Geologist."  David  Dale  Owen  was  employed 
to  explore  and  survey  public  mineral  lands  in  the  upper 
Mississippi  Valley,  an  expedition  which  revealed  a  rich  lead 
supply,  as  a  few  years  later  from  two  other  surveys  were 
made  known  the  resources  of  copper. 

The  systematic  study  of  the  Rocky  Mountains  began, 
under  Dr.  F.  V.  Hayden,  in  the  year  1853,  along  with  the 
paleontological  investigations  of  Mr.  F.  B.  Meek.  Fifteen 
years  later  Dr.  Hayden  was  appointed  United  States  geolo- 
gist, and  given  charge  of  a  scientific  corps  for  tlie  survey  of 
the  Territories.  In  the  mean  time,  however,  the  researches 
begun  by  him  were  the  commencement  of  the  real  geological 
investigation  of  the  Great  West.  Besides  his  geographical 
and  geological  researches,  he  made  large  contributions  also 
to  the  ethnography  and  philology  of  the  numerous  Indian 
tribes  which  he  met  along  the  Yellowstone  and  in  neighbor- 
ing regions.  In  1879  this  and  the  previous  commission  were 
combined  into  the  "  United  States  Geological  and  Geographi- 
cal Survey,"  in  which  the  two  forces  co-operate  under  one 
management. 

The  work  of  Mr.  J.  W.  Powell,  present  director  of  the 
survey,  began  twenty  years  ago  in  an  exploration  of  the 
Colorado  River,  which  was  repeated  the  next  year.    In  1869 


THE  GENERAL  GOVERNMENT  AND  EDUCATION.   321 

he  was  employed  by  the  department  to  make  an  extended 
tour  and  study  of  that  region,  which  he  did  in  its  geology, 
botany,  zoology,  and  ethnology,  publishing  the  results  in 
1878  in  five  large  and  valuable  volumes.  The  survey  is  or- 
ganized under  eleven  departments,  comprising  general  gla- 
cial and  volcanic  geology,  archgean  geology  of  the  Appa- 
lachian and  Lake  Superior  regions,  structural  and  historical 
geology  of  the  Appalachian  region,  tojwgraphical  *  and 
geological  survey  of  Yellowstone  Park,  paleontology  in  five 
sections,  chemical  and  physical  laboratories,  microscopical 
lithography,  and  economic  geology. 

D.    THE   SIGNAL    SEKVICE. 

Since  the  survey  of  the  fortieth  parallel  the  most  impor- 
tant service  of  the  Bureau  of  Engineers  has  been  in  the 
establishment  and  maintenance  of  the  "Signal  Service." 
This  term  originally  meant — still  means  in  mihtant  govern- 
ments and  in  the  United  States  in  war-times — an  organized 
system  of  transmitting  reports  and  messages  between  officers 
and  the  army  or  between  posts  of  an  army.  It  has  come  to 
signify,  in  this  period  of  our  national  peace,  a  system  of 
commimicating  intelligence  of  storms  or  other  approaching 
weather  changes  by  flags  or  other  device.  The  bureau  has 
five  hundred  stations  within  the  territory  of  the  United 
States,  twenty-five  in  Canada,  three  hundred  and  thirty-tliree 
foreign  stations,  and  five  hundred  and  sixty-three  naval  and 
merchant  marine  vessels,  with  all  of  which  it  co-operates  in 
collecting  simultaneous  meteorological  observations  and 
publishing  information. 

In  addition  to  the  familiar  but  little  understood  weather 
predictions,  which,  contrary  to  popular  belief,  constitute  but 
a  part  of  its  service,  the  bureau's  studies  include  the  nature 

*  For  an  interesting  presentation  of  the  changed  meaning  of  "  topogra- 
phy" see  "Science,"  September  23, 1887.  The  issue  of  the  same  journal 
also,  for  July  29, 1887,  has  an  elaborate  statement  of  the  work  of  the  party 
in  perfecting  a  new  map  of  the  United  States  from  these  surveys. 


322  THE  PERIOD  OF  REORGANIZATION. 

and  conditions  of  earthquakes,  tornadoes,  floods,  etc. ;  it  con- 
structs charts,  sailing  directions,  and  light  lists  for  uses  in 
navigation,  and  is  coming  to  be  recognized  as  one  of  the 
serviceable  scientific  bureaus  of  Grovernment.  From  the 
central  office  tri-daily  reports  are  made  of  weather,  wind- 
direction,  and  temperature  to  the  New  York  Associated  Press, 
to  the  United  States  Associated  Press,  to  two  telegraph  com- 
panies, to  nine  individual  papers,  and  to  the  Secretary  of 
War. 

K.   NATAL  EXPEDITIONS. 

In  the  effort  to  add  to  scientific  knowledge  the  United 
States  navy  has  been  an  active  agent.  Its  expeditions  have 
been  numerous  and  fruitful.  Under  its  authority  the  Ant- 
arctic was  explored  by  Wilkes  in  1835-'42,  and  the  Arctic 
by  Kane  and  Hall  in  the  years  1854  and  1872  respectively. 
Eodgers  visited  the  Pacific  in  1852,  and  Captain  Lynch, 
Africa  and  the  Dead  Sea  four  years  earlier.  The  Amazon 
was  explored  about  the  same  period,  and  shortly  afterward 
Mordecai  went  to  the  Crimea,  In  1854  was  made  Captain 
Perry's  historic  voyage  to  Japan,  which  did  so  much  toward 
opening  up  that  country  to  Western  influence.  The  Howgate 
Expedition  to  the  North  in  1877-78,  and  the  recent  Greely 
cruise  of  three  years  in  the  same  region,  are  well  known. 

F.    THE    NATIONAL    OBSERVATORY. 

A  service  more  in  the  line  of  pure  science,  if  not  of 
greater  immediate  economic  utility,  has  been  rendered  in 
the  establishment  and  continued  generous  use  of  the  Na- 
tional Observatory  at  Washington. 

Its  organization  was  authorized  (1842)  as  a  "depot  of 
charts  and  instruments  for  the  navy."*  It  is  located  at 
Washington,  vrith  a  branch  observatory  on  Mare  Island  for 
the  Pacific  coast.     Among  its  instruments  are  mural  and 

*  It  is  said  that  the  repugnance  of  the  dominant  political  party  to  sat- 
isfying the  long- cherished  desire  of  John  Quincy  Adams,  prevented  its 
being  called  at  once  the  National  Observatory. 


THE  GENERAL  GOVERNMENT  AND  EDUCATION.      323 

transit  circles  ;  meridian  transit,  and  prime  verticals  ;  and 
two  (a  nine-inch  and  a  twenty-six-inch)  equatorial  telescopes. 
Its  prime  object  was  and  remains  the  improvement  of  navi- 
gation. For  fixing  bonndai'ies,  and  determining  the  latitude 
and  longitude  of  cities  it  co-operates  with  the  Coast  Survey ; 
and  for  the  position  of  points  abroad,  with  the  navy.  From 
its  chi'onometers,  time-balls  are  dropped  at  noon  in  Phila- 
delphia, Baltimore,  New  York,  New  Orleans,  Washington, 
Hampton  Roads,  Savannah,  and  Newport,  Rhode  Island. 
It  has  a  very  complete  library  of  twelve  thousand  volumes. 
Connected  with  the  observatory  is  the  Nautical  Almanac 
Division,  which  publishes  the  "  American  Ephemeris,"  the 
"American  Nautical  Almanac,"  the  "Atlantic  Coasters' 
Nautical  Almanac,"  and  the  "  Pacific  Coasters'  Nautical 
Almanac." 

G.    THE    BUREAU    OF   AGRICULTURE. 

Skill  in  farming  and  related  industries,  and  familiarity 
with  the  principles  which  underlie  them,  are  obviously  fun- 
damental in  the  United  States.  Washington  has  already 
been  quoted  as  urging  Government  attention  and  encour- 
agement to  these  interests. 

Recognition  has  been  given  in  the  establishment  of  a 
Bureau  of  Agriculture  in  the  Department  of  the  Interior 
(1862),  and  though  its  services  have  been  both  niunerous 
and  widespread,  and  at  times  exceedingly  fruitful,  it  is  per- 
haps of  all  departments  of  the  Government  least  understood 
and  most  depreciated.  The  act  creating  it  declares  its  func- 
tions to  be,  "to  acquire  and  diffuse  among  the  people  of  the 
United  States  usefid  information  on  subjects  connected  with 
agriculture,  in  the  most  general  and  comprehensive  sense  of 
that  word,  and  to  procure,  propagate,  and  distribute  among 
the  people  new  and  valuable  seeds."  It  has  twelve  special- 
ized departments,  besides  an  extensive  museum  and  library. 
The  former  are  :  1.  Pomological  Section.  2.  Contagious 
Diseases  of  Animals.  3.  Fei'tilization.  4.  Entomology.  5. 
Seeds.  6.  Forestry.  7.  Chemistry.  8.  Ornithology.  9.  Plant 
Diseases.  10.  Satistics.  11.  Microscopy.  12.  Animal  Industry. 


324  THE  PERIOD   OF  REORGANIZATION. 

Besides  a  botanic  or  propagating  garden  at  Washington, 
its  organization  includes  two  experiment  farms,  one  main- 
tained in  the  South,  and  the  other  in  the  West. 

4.  Special  Publications. 

Besides  these  organized  services  contributed  by  the  na- 
tional Government  to  the  enlargement  of  the  sphere  of  nat- 
ural science,  and  the  general  diffusion  of  its  beneficent  uses, 
there  are  certain  incidental  and  secondary  ones,  though  not 
the  less  positive  in  their  educational  bearings. 

This  larger  service  is  shown  first  in  the  abundant  litera- 
ture of  the  departments,  the  annual  and  special  reports,  and 
the  particular  and  general  histories  of  their  respective  duties. 
The  decisions  of  the  Supreme  Court,  for  example,  number 
one  hundred  and  twenty  volumes  and  form  the  standards  of 
law  and  equity  for  the  bars  of  the  entire  country ;  and  the 
special  reports  of  the  Interior  Department  on  the  Indians, 
railroads,  public  lands,  and  labor,  constitute  a  fund  of  valu- 
able information.  When  Audubon's  "Birds  of  America" 
was  ready  to  publish,  the  magnitude  of  the  undertakmg, 
both  in  expense  and  execution,  must  have  exceeded  the  pos- 
sibilities of  ordinary  means ;  but  the  generosity  of  Astor,  and 
the  aid  of  the  Department  of  State,  gave  the  public  one  of 
the  rarest  works,  and  immortalized  American  science.  Serv- 
iceable in  a  different  way  have  been  the  publications  by  this 
department  of  reports  on  the  three  great  expositions — Paris 
in  1867  and  1878,  and  Vienna  in  1873.  In  the  publication  of 
Wheaton's  "International  Law,"  also,  the  oflfice  rendered 
timely  aid.  The  decennial  census  has  been  shown  by  Dr. 
Harris  to  be  full  of  the  most  significant  educational  informa- 
tion to  every  locality.  Three  years  before  the  first  census, 
a  volume  was  published  containing  information  on  foreign 
countries;  in  1820  another  on  "Home  Industries."  The 
treasury  reports  on  commerce  and  navigation  were  made 
,  the  same  year.  The  first  inquiries  on  education  were  made 
in  the  sixth  census  (1840),  whose  answers  contributed  to  the 
general  educational  awakening  of  the  period. 


THE  GENERAL  GOVERNMENT  AND  EDUCATION.   325 

The  anthropological  studies  also  made  by  Surgeon  Bax- 
ter, amon^  civil-war  recruits,  deserve  mention  as  among  the 
most  careful  and  comprehensive  of  the  kind  made  in  this 
or  any  other  country.  The  "  Medical  and  Surgical  History 
of  the  War  of  the  Rebellion,"  in  six  volumes,  and  the  gen- 
eral "Official  History  of  the  Civil  War,"  in  one  hundred 
volumes,  will  furnish  an  authoritative  statement  of  the  oc- 
currences of  an  eventful  period.  It  is  safe  to  say  that  the 
Government  itself,  from  the  administrative  side  alone,  is  one 
of  the  greatest  educational  forces  of  the  country. 

Bibliography. 

"The  United  States  Bureau  of  Education — Answers  to  Inquiries 
about  its  Work  and  History,"  1883  ;  "Origin  and  History  of  the  Smith- 
sonian Institution,"  W.  J.  Rhees ;  concerning  the  Smithsonian  bequest  and 
the  final  organization  of  the  institution,  much  valuable  material  is  con- 
tained in  the  memoirs  of  John  Quincy  Adams,  edited  by  C.  F.  Adams. 
"  Organization  of  the  Scientific  Work  of  Government,"  by  J.  W.  Powell, 
1885;  "Government  Geological  Surveys,"  " Nature,"  vol.  xii,  p. 265;  also 
"  North  American  Review,"  vol.  cxxi,  p.  270 ;  the  "  United  States  Coast 
Survey,"  "  American  Journal  of  Science,"  vols,  xlix,  Iv,  lix,  Ixii,  and 
Ixxv ;  "  What  has  the  Coast  Survey  done  for  Science  ?  "  "  Science," 
December,  1885,  p.  558 ;  "  Catalogue  of  Government  Publications,"  by 
Ben.  Perley  Poore ;  and  "  What  has  been  done  for  Education  by  the  Gov- 
ernment of  the  United  States,"  John  Eaton,  "  Education,"  vol.  iv,  p.  276. 


PART  FOUR 
CURRENT  EDUCATIONAL  INTERESTS. 


CHAPTER  XVin. 

COMPULSORY  SCHOOL  ATTENDANCE. 

On  the  plane  of  the  State,  enforced  attendance  is  an 
attempt  to  make  good  citizenship  certain,  by  making  educa- 
tion universal.  It  is  not  a  modem  device,  though  it  has  its 
recent  applications  and  new  conditions.  In  its  most  un- 
yielding and  narrow  sense,  it  was  authorized  and  enforced 
among  the  Hebrews  by  Joshua.  Under  Solon,  the  Athe- 
nians were  enjoined  to  reach  every  child;  and,  "with  the 
Spartans,"  says  Mitford,  "  attendance  upon  the  schools  was 
made  every  man's  concern."  * 

Among  more  recent  nations,  German  states  had  made 
experiment  of  compulsory  legislation  as  early  as  1732;  Ba- 
varia in  1802.  The  cantons  of  Switzerland,  always  forward 
in  promoting  the  general  welfare,  have  had  like  provisions 
for  more  than  half  a  century,  and  Denmark  since  1814.  t 
Tlie  German  system  was  introduced  iato  Greece  twenty 
years  after,  and  into  Sweden  in  1842.  Norway,  since  1869, 
has  required  even  that  pupils  from  private  schools  attend  the 
public  examinations ;  and,  if  found  deficient,  enter  the  pub- 
lic Schools.    England  authorizes  local  boards  to  require  the 

*  "  History  of  Greece,"  vol.  i,  p.  286. 

t  Attempted  as  early  as  1793,  but  ineffectually. 


COMPULSORY  SCHOOL  ATTENDANCE.  327 

attendance  of  children  between  six  and  thirteen  years  of 
age.  Following  the  example  of  England,  Scotland  almost 
immediately  revised  the  "  Parochial  and  Burgh  School  Act " 
of  1869,  and,  while  still  retaining  school  fees,  inserted  a  com- 
pulsory clause,  providing  that  no  child  under  thirteen  may 
be  employed  in  any  labor,  except  it  be  shown  that  he  has 
attended  school  at  least  three  years,  from  five  to  thirteen, 
and  is  able  to  read  and  write.  In  more  recent  years  the 
same  principle  has  been  tried  with  greater  or  less  success  in 
Italy,  Japan,  France,  and  other  European  and  Oriental 
countries. 

So  much  has  been  given  of  foreign  educational  legisla- 
tion to  afford  a  kind  of  setting  for  the  numerous  recent 
attempts  in  the  United  States  to  make  really  general  partici- 
pation in  the  benefits  of  a  free  education.  It  will  be  seen  that 
the  problem  is  an  old  one ;  most  of  the  applications  are  both 
recent  and  Western ;  the  whole  exceedingly  complicated  by 
the  diffusion  of  authority,  which  characterizes  our  republi- 
can institutions.  Yet  how  much  simpler  is  the  question  in 
a  new  community,  among  a  homogeneous  people,  without 
fixed  institutions  and  with  a  high  notion  of  learning  and 
the  regenerations  of  culture,  may  be  seen  in  the  prevalent 
sentiments  of  New  England  under  the  first  administrations. 

The  Massachusetts  law  of  1647,  and  the  Connecticut  code 
of  1650,  were,  both  theoretically  and  practically,  coercive, 
and  efficiently  administered.  They  early  recognized  and 
formulated  the  now  common  sentiment  that  the  perma- 
nence of  a  representative  government  also  demands  an 
education  coextensive  with  its  sovereignty;  that  universal 
suffrage  is  meaningless  if  not  wedded  to  universal  educa- 
tion. That  the  pubhc  school  is  the  only  agency  for  securing 
such  citizenship  has  been  sometimes  questioned;  that  it  is 
the  most  available  means  is  generally  accepted.  The  steps 
toward  compulsory  education  have  been  taken,  more  or 
fewer  of  them,  in  most  States. 

In  the  older  sections  the  legalizing  of  free  schools  by  au- 
thorizing localities  to  tax  themselves  for  the  common  school- 


328  CURRENT  EDUCATIONAL  INTERESTS. 

ing  was  thought  to  be  and  was  a  great  advance  on  the  casual 
instruction  which  had  prevailed.  It  was  an  admission  of 
the  supremacy  of  the  common  need.  Still,  the  law  was  only 
permissive.  Schools  might  be  established  and  they  might 
not.  Such  a  statute  was  on  the  books  in  Khode  Island  for 
twenty  years,  leaving  no  trace  of  its  existence  other  than 
the  system  in  Providence.  It  was  simply  inoperative.  The 
history  of  Pennsylvania  is  similar,  and  that  of  most  States 
South  prior  to  1870.  The  more  recent  provisions  of  State 
Constitutions  (since  1820),  especially  those  in  the  Northwest, 
are  mandatory  upon  school  officials,  formulating  the  system, 
appointing  the  administration,  fixing  a  minimum  time,  and 
regulating  the  tax,  but  not  at  the  same  time  always  equally 
constraining  upon  children  and  parents. 

Massachusetts  requii'es  that  in  every  town  there  must  be 
kept  at  the  public  expense  a  sufficient  number  of  schools, 
and  for  a  minimum  time,  for  the  instruction  of  all  the  chil- 
dren who  may  legally  attend.  Michigan,  Minnesota,  Ore- 
gon, and  other  States  have  somewhat  similar  provisions. 
Nineteen  States  name  a  minimum  school  term,  in  some  uni- 
form throughout  the  State,  elsewhere  varying  with  the  den- 
sity of  the  population.  The  average  required  term  in  these 
States  is  nearly  four  months  and  a  half.  Nine  of  them  * 
withdraw  from  delinquent  communities  any  sharing  in  the 
State  school  fund.  Four  States  have  enacted  truant  laws, 
upon  the  principle  that,  by  establishing  separate  schools  for 
the  offending  or  truant  or  disturbing  class  and  enforcing 
their  attendance,  that  of  the  majority  would  be  satisfactory. 
The  like  general  results  also  have  been  sought  in  the 
effort  to  accommodate  the  public,  to  make  attendance  easy. 
Schools  and  school  suiroundings  have  been  made  both  more 
attractive  and  more  safe.  They  have  been  multiplied  and 
so  brought  to  each  man's  home.    Tasks  have  been  modified 

•  Colorado,  Kentucky,  Mississippi,  New  York,  Oregon,  Rhode  Island, 
Wisconsin,  and  Arizona.  In  Michigan  tlie  offending  party  is  prosecuted  as 
for  any  other  violation  of  law. 


COMPULSORY   SCHOOL  ATTENDANCE.  329 

and  courses  revised  to  fit  the  general  want.  Industrial  prac- 
tice and  the  principles  underlying  it  have  been  introduced 
into  the  better  secondary  schools,  and  an  immediate  value 
thus  set  upon  their  training. 

The  ultimate  object  of  all  these  is  the  same  as  that  of,  and 
justifies,  compulsory  attendance  laws.  Though  considered 
only  as  devices,  these  indirect  efforts  have  accomplished 
something.  Attendance  grows  more  regular.  Terms  have 
been  lengthened  (something  more  than  a  month  since 
1880).  Teachers  have  improved.  Nevertheless,  thousands 
remain  away  from,  while  within  easy  reach  of,  the  best 
schools. 

In  populous  districts,  and  especially  manufacturing  cen- 
ters where  it  has  been  found  profitable,  child  labor  has 
robbed  the  school  to  replenish  the  family  pui-se.  To  meet 
this  injustice,  factory  laws  and  the  like  restrictive  enact- 
ments have  been  passed,  most  of  which  have  an  educational 
aspect.  New  Hampshire  and  Rhode  Island  make  it  unlaw- 
ful for  any  child  under  ten  years  of  age  to  be  employed  in 
any  manufacturing  industry.  In  Pennsylvania  children 
under  thirteen  are  excluded  from  silk,  cotton,  paper,  and 
other  specified  factories  and  from  the  mines.  Eight  States  * 
prohibit  the  employment  of  children  under  a  designated  age 
in  any  industry  except  upon  evidence  of  recent  prescribed 
schooling,  the  Pennsylvania  law  (a  typical  one)  providing 
that  no  child  from  thirteen  to  sixteen  may  be  employed 
more  than  nine  calendar  months  in  a  year,  nor  except  after 
twelve  weeks  of  schooling.  This,  again,  is  only  a  negative 
compulsion,  and,  as  a  means  of  securing  a  more  general  use 
of  the  schools,  ranks  with  their  multiplication  and  bettering, 
the  improvement  of  teachers,  and  the  revision  and  rational- 
izing of  the  school  course.  By  one  class  of  men  it  is  urged 
that  such  indirect  control  is  the  only  legitimate  republican 
management.     To  others,  positive  enactments,  the  fixing  of 

*  Connecticut,  Michigan,  New  Hampshire,  New  Jersey,  New  York, 
Ohio,  Pennsylvania,  and  Ehode  Island. 


330  CURRENT  EDUCATIONAL  INTERESTS. 

a  minimum  attendance,  as  well  as  a  minimum  term,  pre- 
sents itself  as  a  possible  means. 

With  a  conservatism  born  of  the  masses,  the  States  have 
been  slow  to  enact,  and  the  administration  slower  to  enforce, 
the  more  coercive  laws.  A  large  and  not  unwholesome 
laissez-faire  is  implicit  in  our  State  and  local  life.  But, 
when  it  shall  be  found  that  conditions  of  danger  no  longer 
right  themselves,  or  involve  more  dangerous  delay,  it  is  safe 
to  confide  in  the  certainty  that  an  organized  public  will  take 
them  vigorously  in  hand.  Upon  the  part  of  no  small  num- 
ber of  thinking  tradesmen  and  educators,  legislators  and 
patrons,  the  time  seems  impending  when  the  State,  as  a 
means  to  universal  education,  and  so  a  means  to  public 
safety,  should  make  the  acceptance  of  that  education  obliga- 
tory. 

Seventeen  States  have  such  statutory  provisions.  Massa- 
chusetts, in  the  act  of  1852,  required  that  every  child  between 
the  ages  of  eight  and  fourteen  years  should  attend  school 
for  twelve  weeks  each  year,  six  of  which  must  be  consecu- 
tive, 'A  penalty  was  imposed  for  violation,  and  twenty  years 
later  the  term  lengthened.  South  Carolina  passed  a  similar 
law  in  1868,  and  Connecticut  and  New  Hampshire  immedi- 
ately after ;  New  York  in  1874,  and  California,  Kansas,  New 
Jersey,  Rhode  Island,  and  Vermont,  the  same  year ;  Maine 
and  Wisconsin  (1875),  Michigan  and  Nevada  (1879),  Ohio 
(1880),  Dakota  (1882),  Montana  and  Washington  Territories 
(1883),  and  Illinois  (1885). 

Justice  compels  the  admission  that,  as  it  stands  on  most 
statute-books,  the  law  is  at  best  ineflBcient,  if  not  unmeaning. 
Its  execution  is  irregular,  half-hearted,  or  ignored ;  the  duty 
of  its  enforcement  is  often  indefinitely  placed,  while  the 
law  not  unfrequently  carries  no  penalty  for  its  infraction, 
either  by  officers  or  patrons. 

Bibliography. 

On  compulsory  education  and  allied  topics  consult  "  Social  Science," 
G.  L.  Harrison,  1877 ;  "  Dynamic  Sociology,"  L.  F.  Ward,  1883 ;  "  Social 


TEE   GRADATION  OF  SCHOOLS.  331 

Statics,"  Herbert  Spencer,  1865;  "Higher  Ground,"  Augustus  Jacobson, 
1888 ;  "  Relation  of  Education  to  Crime  in  New  England,"  Rev.  A.  S. 
Fiske ;  "  Compulsory  Education  in  Relation  to  Crime  and  Social  Morals," 
Dr.  W.  T.  Harris;  "Compulsory  Education,"  C.  E.  Norton,  "Nation," 
vol.  V,  p.  191. 


CHAPTER  XIX. 

THE  GRADATION  OF  SCHOOLS. 

Viewed  fi'ora  the  side  of  organization,  the  acme  of  wise 
supervision  is  the  working  adjustment  of  each  part  of  the 
system  to  its  antecedent  and  subsequent  stages — a  process 
termed  grading.  Given  the  various  attainments  of  pupils 
on  the  one  side,  and  the  logical  or  economic  sequence  of  sub- 
jects on  the  other,  gradation  results  in  the  co-ordination  of 
the  two  into  classes  with  their  appropriate  work.  The  classi- 
fication may  be  more  or  less  conventional,  and  the  nomen- 
clature wholly  so — though,  historically,  the  terms  in  use 
have  a  fairly  definite  content.  The  names  "high-school," 
•'grammar-school,"  "elementary,"  "primary,"  "intermedi- 
ate," and  "secondary,"  at  fii'st  descriptive  only,  have  been 
more  or  less  specialized  into  terms  of  individual  significance. 

From  the  standpoint  of  the  college,  "elementary"  and 
"  secondary  "  name  two  successive  stages  in  the  educational 
preparation  for  college  studies ;  the  "  high-school "  is  one  of 
the  secondary  agencies.  As  part  of  a  city  system,  on  the 
contrary,  assuming  the  primary  and  higher  grades,  the  high- 
school  is  the  culmination  only. 

1.  Primary  Schools. 

Prior  to  about  1818,  speaking  generally,  the  only  public 
schools  were  the  so-called  "grammar-schools."  They  were 
in  reality  schools  of  mixed  grades,  with  a  comprehensive 
course  of  elementary  and  secondary  instruction,  often  fitting 
for  college,  but  to  which  children  were  not  admitted  except 


332  CURRENT  EDUCATIONAL  INTERESTS. 

they  had  "  learned  in  some  other  school,  or  in  some  other 
way  to  read  the  English  language  by  spelling  the  same." 
The  "  other  way  "  was  the  private  or  dame  school,  or  home 
— the  only  means  of  primary  instruction  for  many  years. 

The  first  low-grade  school  in  New  York  city  was  opened 
in  1828,  by  the  "  Infant  School  Society."  Four  years  later  it 
was'  assisted  by  public  tax,  and  ultimately  became  a  part  of 
the  common  system.  In  most  other  communities  its  adop- 
tion came  later.  In  the  West,  of  course,  it  came  in  with  the 
organization  of  States,  and  the  original  enactments  of  school 
laws.  That  it  was  not  at  first  regarded  as  an  essential  part 
of  the  public-school  system  appears  in  that,  both  in  and  out 
of  New  England,  for  many  years,  it  was — as  is  the  modem 
Kindergarten — managed  independently  of  other  schools  :  in 
Boston,  until  1854.*  Moreover,  it  appears  that  among  the 
earliest  infant-schools  were  the  Sunday  classes  among  poor 
children,  who  were  brought  together  for  instruction.  These 
were  only  semi-religious  at  most,  and  on  the  instructional 
side,  in  some  towns,  grew  into  the  public  primary  school. 
Notwithstanding  its  occasional  exotic  origin,  it  is  now  a 
part  of  every  public-school  system,  whether  rural  or  urban. 
In  cities  it  includes  about  one  half  of  aU  the  pupils  doing 
elementary  work,  commands  the  best  preparation  and  ex- 
perience of  teachers,  and  most  patient  temper  ;  and  is,  with- 
al, peculiarly  characteristic  of  the  contemporary  common 
school. 

S.  The  Kindergarten. 

As  another  phase  of  child  education  belonging  to  the  re- 
cent period  is  the  Kindergarten.  It  is  a  recognition  of  the 
importance  of  a  rational  nurture  of  the  young.  The  system 
originated  with  Friedrich  Froebel.  He  was  the  embodiment 
of  its  idea.  With  all  its  changes,  it  remains  essentially  his 
discovery.  The  first  Kin dergarten  was  that  opened  by  Froebel 

*  "  Annals  of  the  Primary  Schools  in  Boston,"  by  J.  Wightman,  is  a 
representative  sketch,  and  very  suggestive  of  improvemcntB  in  primary  in- 
struction, covering  a  period  of  nearly  for^  years. 


THE  GRADATION  OF  SCHOOLS.  333 

himself  at  Blankenburg,  in  Thuringia,  barely  half  a  century 
ago.  After  ten  years,  by  invitation  of  royal  patronage,  he 
removed  into  Liebenthal,  where,  connected  with  his  school, 
he  began  the  training  of  young  women  as  Kindergarten 
teachers.  Froebel  dying  in  1852,  the  cause  of  infant  educa- 
tion was  enthusiastically  espoused  and  generously  promoted 
by  the  Baroness  Marenholtz-Biilow.  Her  zeal  and  intelli- 
gence interested  all  Europe.  She  became  the  Kindergarten 
apostle  of  the  Continent.  France,  Italy,  and  England 
adopted  it. 

It  was  introduced  into  this  country  by  pupils  of  Froebel 
himself,  and  his  immediate  European  successors.  Mr.  Carl 
Schurz  came  to  the  United  States  in  1852.  Three  years  after- 
ward he  settled  in  Watertown,  Wisconsin,  where  his  wife — 
"  herself  an  adept  in  the  theory,  and  expert  in  practice,  by 
attending  con  amore  Froebel's  own  lectures  and  Kinder- 
garten in  Hamburg  "  * — founded  among  the  Germans  a  Kin- 
dergarten. Through  Mrs.  Schurz,  Miss  Peabody  became  ac- 
quainted (1859)  with  the  Kindergarten  idea,  studied  it  from 
every  available  source,  and  the  year  following,  "  without  a 
knowledge  of  the  details  of  Froebel's  system,"  opened  a 
school  in  Boston,  which,  with  about  fifty  children,  was  main- 
tained for  many  years.  Dm'ing  this  period  Miss  Peabody 
published  the  "Kindergarten  Guide,"  through  which  her 
school  became  known  far  and  wide. 

Becoming  convinced,  in  1867,  that  she  had  not  the  full 
Froebel  idea,  she  went  to  Europe  to  study  the  system  for 
herself.  "An  hour,"  she  says,  "in  the  Hamburg  Kinder- 
garten, opened  her  eyes."  Upon  her  return  to  Boston  she 
began  anew  her  advocacy  of  the  system.  What  Baroness 
Marenholtz-Biilow  did  for  Europe,  Miss  Peabody  has  done 
for  America.  She  was  the  earliest,  as  she  has  been  one  of 
the  most  persistent,  advocates  of  its  merits.  Hers  was  the 
first  literature  on  the  subject — hers  a  pioneer  labor. 

*  for  this  item,  aa  for  others  here  and  there  in  this  paragraph,  the  author 
gratefully  acknowledges  Indebtedness  to  Miss  Elizabeth  Peabody. 
22 


334  CUKRENT  EDUCATIONAL  INTERESTS. 

In  the  mean  time  some  attempts  had  been  made  by  Ger- 
man-speaking communities  in  Hoboken  (1861)  and  New  York 
(1864)  to  introduce  the  Kiudergarten  ;  but  it  met  with  little 
success  for  a  time,  although  the  two  schools  named  are  yet  ia 
existence.  About  1870  Mrs.  Kriege  and  her  daughter — the 
latter  a  graduate  of  the  training-school  of  Baroness  Maren- 
holtz  -  Billow — opened  in  Boston  the  first  true  Kindergarten. 
The  school  still  continues.  A  year  later  a  Kindergarten 
was  attached  to  a  private  school  in  New  York  city,  and  Miss 
Boelte  (now  Mrs.  Kraus-Boelte)  made  director.  Miss  Boelte 
was  a  graduate  of  the  Froebel  Training  School,  maintained 
by  the  widow  of  the  founder.  In  this  New  York  school  Miss 
Susan  E.  Blow,  of  St.  Louis,  was  a  pupil.  Upon  her  gradu- 
ation, she  returned  home  to  introduce  the  system  into  the 
public  schools  of  St.  Louis.*  Dr.  W.  T.  Harris,  Superintend- 
ent of  the  St.  Louis  Schools,  had  urged  it  for  thi-ee  years  ; 
and  in  1873  Miss  Blow  offered  "  to  undertake  gratuitously 
the  instruction  of  one  teacher  appointed  by  the  board,  and 
to  supervise  and  manage  a  Kindergarten,  provided  the  board 
would  furnish  the  rooms  and  a  salaried  teacher."  The  offer 
was  accepted,  and  the  first  school  opened  ;  the  year  follow- 
ing, three  others.  During  the  centennial  year,  thirty  such 
classes  were  reported,  and  in  the  school  year  1879-'80  the 
entire  number  enrolled  in  the  St.  Louis  free  public  Kinder- 
gartens was  7,828. 

Such  were  the  beginnings  in  Boston,  New  York,  and  St. 
Louis — initiative  centers.  Outside  these  cities  into  others, 
large  and  small,  the  interest  was  communicated,  and  schools 
established.     A  half-dozen  enthusiastic,  sensible  teachers 

*  MisB  Blow  was  already  well  trained  in  the  theory  of  the  Kinder^rten, 
and  more  or  less  familiar  with  the  practical  details  of  its  management.  She 
had  made,  the  year  before  the  arrival  of  Miss  Boelte,  the  offer  to  supervise 
a  Kindergarten  and  instruct  one  teacher  gratuitously,  provided  that  the 
board  would  furnish  rooms  and  pay  the  salary  of  tlie  pupil-teacher,  but 
postponed  beginning  her  work  for  a  year,  in  order  to  avail  herself  of  the 
advantage  of  another  year's  study  of  the  system  in  the  excellent  Kindergar- 
ten of  Miss  Boelte. — Editob. 


THE  GRADATION  OF  SCHOOLS,  335 

had  found  place  in  American  education  for  a  new  influence  ; 
liad  erected  a  new  institution — the  public,  free  infant-school ; 
had  introduced  it  into  fifteen  cities,  in  one  hundred  and 
thirty  classes,  and  over  four  thousand  pupils. 

In  the  five  years,  from  1874  to  1878,  ninety-three  new 
Kindergartens  were  established.  Since  the  centennial  year, 
the  number  of  schools  has  more  than  doubled,  with  five 
times  as  many  pupils. 

The  first  Kindergartens  in  the  United  States  were  private, 
and  patronized  chiefly  by  the  well-to-do  families  able  to  pay  a 
tuition.  Soon  were  undertaken  schools  for  the  poor  and  the 
uncared-for — charity  Kindergartens,  that  have  done  so  much 
to  put  best  influences  and  refined  standards  within  the  reach  of 
the  waif  and  the  neglected.  Later  came  public  Kindergartens. 

Of  the  filrst  class  are  the  Model  Kindergarten,  of  San 
FrancLsco  ;  the  Garfield  Kindergarten,  at  Washington  ;  the 
La  Porte  Kindergarten,  at  La  Porte,  Indiana  ;  and  the  Kraus 
Model  Kindergarten,  New  York  city.  Among  the  largest  of 
charity  Klindergarten  enterprises  are,  or  have  been,  those  of 
San  Francisco,  Chicago,  Philadelphia,  and  the  Quincy  Shaw 
Free  Kindergartens  of  Boston  and  Cambridge.  Besides, 
St.  Louis,  San  Francisco,  Washington  (D.  C),  Des  Moines 
(Iowa),  Portland  (Maine),  Boston,  Worcester,  Ionia  (Michi- 
gan), New  York  city  and  Oswego  (N.  Y.),  Columbus  and 
Dayton  (Ohio),  Lancaster  (Pennsylvania),  Austin  (Texas), 
and  Janesville  and  Milwaukee  (Wisconsin),  support  one  or 
more  public  Kindergartens.  Boston  has  recently  adopted 
the  Quincy  Shaw  Kindergartens,  which  will  hereafter  be 
supported  as  part  of  the  common-school  system.  In  Phila- 
delphia,* of  the  forty  schools,  nine  are  private,  four  are  char- 
ity, and  eight  public  ;  of  the  other  nineteen,  there  are  com- 
bined private  and  charity  classes,  and  sixteen  under  the 
management  of  the  Sub-Primary-School  Society,  partly  sus- 
tained by  public  funds. 

*  They  have  just  been  made  public  in  their  adoption  by  the  Public 
School  Board. 


336  CURRENT  EDUCATIONAL  INTERESTS. 

Altogether,  of  the  four  hundred  and  seventeen  schools, 
forty  per  cent  are  public,  thirty  per  cent  private,  and  the 
others  charity  or  mixed  classes.  These  public  Kindergartens 
represent  sixteen  States  and  twenty-five  cities.  Besides  these, 
seven  other  cities  contribute  more  or  less  of  public  money 
to  Kindergarten  instruction,  and  so  are  pledged  to  the  idea. 
These,  in  the  aggregate,  represent  a  city  population  of  four 
million,  and  a  wide  reach  of  country  from  Massachusetts  to 
California.  After  the  individuals  named,  much  credit  for 
its  introduction  is  due  to  the  voluntary  societies  that,  in 
most  cities,  have  espoused  the  cause  of  free  Kindergartens. 
The  Sub-Primary-School  Society  in  Philadelphia,  the  Free 
Kindergarten  Association  of  Chicago,  and  the  half-dozen 
similar  organizations  in  San  Francisco,  are  examples  of  this 
co-operative  spirit.  Prof.  Felix  Adler  and  the  Society  of 
Ethical  Culture  in  New  York  have  made  the  Twenty-second 
Street  Free  Kindergarten  a  historic  confirmation  of  the 
regenerative  power  of  cleanliness  and  innocent  play,  and 
directed  interests,  and  refined  example,  even  among  the 
lowest. 

The  work  of  Mrs.  Quincy  A.  Shaw  (daughter  of  Prof. 
L.  Agassiz),  in  Boston,  was  a  remarkable  charity.  In  1877 
she  started  four  schools  among  the  poor  at  her  own  expense. 
The  year  following  she  opened  fourteen  more.  All  were 
among  the  laboring  and  poorer  classes,  all  free,  and  all  an 
individual  charity.  The  work  extended  to  Cambridge,  and 
included  about  thirty  schools,  at  an  annual  expense  of  from 
thirty  thousand  to  fifty  thousand  dollars.  Their  adoption 
by  the  city  *  seems  to  be  a  forward  movement. 

In  addition  to  the  four  hundred  and  seventeen  Kinder- 
gartens there  are  several  reliable  training-schools  for  teach- 
ers. The  first  of  these  was  that  of  the  Krieges,  in  Boston, 
already  noted.  In  1876  there  were  five ;  there  are  now  forty- 
one,  with  four  hundred  and  fifty-two  pupil-teachers.  Nine 
State  normals  have  Kindergartens  attached. 

•  May,  1888. 


THE  GRADATION  OF  SCHOOLS. 


337 


Table  of  Kindergartens*  in  the  United  Stales. 


STATES. 


Alabama 

California 

Colorado 

Connecticut 

Dakota 

Delaware...' 

Georgia 

Illinois 

Indiana 

Iowa 

Kansas 

Kentucky 

Louisiana 

Maine 

Maryland 

Massachusetts 

M  ichigan 

Minnesota 

Missouri 

Nebraska 

Nevada 

New  Jersey 

New  York 

North  Carolina 

Ohio 

Oregon 

Pennsylvania 

Khode  Island 

Tennessee 

Texas 

Vermont 

Washington 

Wyoming 

WLsconsin 

District  of  Columbia 
Indian  Territory  . . . 

New  Mexico 

Utah 

Total 


Support- 

Kinder- 

Schools. 

Teach- 
ers. 

Pupils. 

ed  by 
public 
funds. 

garten 
trainiiig- 

Bchools. 

1 

8 

35 

1 

56 

121 

2,815- 

i 

2 

1 

8 

105 

1 

13 

30 

519 

3 

i 

1 

2 

28 

• .  •  • 

1 

2 

21 

.... 

2 

3 

31 

48 

157 

2,684 

1 

4 

12 

31 

446 

2 

8 

22 

868 

4 

1 

2 

3 

51 

.  .  .  • 

1 

1 

27 

1 

.... 

3 

11 

192 

1 

3 

5 

69 

1 

10 

19 

286 

i 

46 

86 

1,446 

1 

5 

16 

31 

725 

11 

1 

10 

19 

336 

1 

3 

^1 

244 

6,081 

68 

1 

1 

4 

50 

1 

.... 

1 

1 

30 

.... 

.... 

15 

28 

680 

2 

60 

124 

2,813 

10 

ii 

1 

1 

30 

•  .  •  « 

34 

74 

850 

5 

2 

6 

13 

192 

.... 

1 

63 

108 

1,899 

26 

5 

5 

15 

186 

2 

1 

2 

2 

32 

1 

4 

6 

116 

1 

.... 

1 

2 

17 

.... 

1 

1 

1 

10 

.... 

.... 

1 

1 

10 

.... 

.... 

31 

58 

2,491 

17 

11 
1 

1 

22 

1 
1 

195 

26 
10 

1 

3 

1 

1 

50 

1 

544 

1,256 

25,952 

158 

49 

Pupil- 
teachers. 


2 
83 


10 


101 

32 

5 


13 

84 

4 

9 

25 


72 

29 

8 

83 

12 

4 

13 


11 
30 


524 


*  Inasmuch  as  the  Kindergarten  is  in  a  state  of  transition,  the  table  rep- 
resents rather  the  distribution  by  States  than  the  actual  number  of  institu- 
tions, or  the  number  made  public,  though  as  far  as  possible  the  materials 
have  been  corrected  for  the  present  condition. 


338  CURRENT  EDUCATIONAL  INTERESTS 

3.  The  High-School 

The  oldest  of  the  existing  high-schools  is  the  Boston 
Latin  School,  which  admirably  represents  the  classical  side 
of  this  secondary  training.  To  Boston,  also,  must  be  cred- 
ited the  first  typical  high-school — an  institution  of  the  nine- 
teenth century  cast,  representing  the  best  English  education. 
The  English  High-School,  Boston,  was  founded  in  1821. 
Among  all  secondary  schools  it  marks  almost  the  first  re- 
action against  the  mediaeval  classicism  of  the  previous  two 
centuries.  It  is  the  American  "  real-school,"  founded  with 
the  design  of  "  furnishing  young  men  of  Boston,  who  are 
not  intended  for  a  collegiate  course  of  study,  and  who  have 
enjoyed  the  usual  advantages  of  the  other  public  schools, 
with  the  means  of  completing  a  good  English  education." 
Its  three  years'  course  was  made  to  include,  besides  Eng- 
lish, the  French  and  Spanish  languages;  physics;  mathe- 
matics, pure  and  applied  ;  mental  and  moral  science,  rhetoric, 
and  general  history.  It  is  emphatically  a  people's  college, 
the  thoroughness  of  whose  instruction  led  Tillinghast  to  say 
that  "  West  Point  was  the  best  place  in  this  country  to  get 
an  education,  and  that  the  English  High-School  in  Boston 
was  the  next."  For  almost  twenty  years,  among  all  the 
cities,  Boston  stood  alone  in  this  public  secondary  education. 
New  York,  early  in  the  century,  incorporated  certain  of  her 
academies,  and  so  postponed  the  adoption  of  the  high-school ; 
though  the  organization  of  the  Eochester  and  Buffalo  Semi- 
naries (1837)  was  under  this  name.  As  far  as  known,  the 
next  city  to  follow  was  Philadelphia  (1837).  Both  in  its 
inception  and  management  the  Central  High-School  was 
particularly  fortunate.  Its  course  of  study  and  constitution 
were  largely  the  work  of  Prof.  Bache,  then  of  Girard  Col- 
lege. Prof.  J.  S.  Hart  was  the  first  principal.  In  this 
school  Philadelphia,  and  Pennsylvania  indeed,  first  broke 
away  from  the  damaging  charge  of  "pauper  schools,"  by 
declaring  that  "the  benefits  of  the  school  were  not  to  be 
confined  to  the  poor."    Two  years  later  Baltimore  City  Col- 


THE  GRADATION  OF  SCHOOI^.  339 

lege  (the  Boys'  High-School)  was  founded,  and  in  1849  the 
New  York  Free  Academy,  now  the  City  College.  The  high- 
schools  of  the  four  cities  named  were  for  boys  exclusively, 
and  maintain  their  original  rank  as  the  best  of  their  kind. 

An  attempt  was  made  by  Boston,  in  1826,  to  establish  a 
high-school  for  girls.  It  failed,  however,  in  a  year,  and  the 
enterprise  was  abandoned  because  of  its  great  success — to 
give  such  an  education  to  both  sexes  involved  too  great  ex- 
pense. Providence  opened  its  high-school  for  boys  and  girls 
in  1843.  It  was  many  years  before  another  community  took 
up  the  interest.*  Philadelphia,  three  years  after  the  opening 
of  the  Central  High-School  (for  boys),  established  a  similar 
one  for  girls  (1840).  It  was  organized,  it  seems,  chiefly  as  a 
training-school  for  teachers,  but  with  an  extended  academic 
course.  It  is  known  as  the  Girls'  High  and  Normal  School, 
whose  graduates  receive  principal's  and  assistant's  certifi- 
cates. With  the  election  of  a  city  superintendent  (1852)  and 
the  readjustment  of  her  school  system,  Boston  re-established 
the  Girls'  High-School,  but  gave  it,  like  that  of  Philadelphia, 
a  professional  bias.  Twenty  years  after,  the  school  was  set 
off  into  two  schools,  one  for  academic  instruction,  the  other 
as  a  training-school  proper.  Boston  has  now  ten  high- 
schools — six  open  to  both  sexes,  and  one  classical  and  one 
non-classical  school  for  each  sex.  Cincinnati  has  two,  dat- 
ing from  1847,  and  St.  Louis  (1853),  Chicago  (1856),  and 
Detroit  (1858),  one  each,  besides  branch  high-schools.  By 
1860,  all  of  New  England,  and  most  States  West,  had  ac- 
cepted the  principle,  t 

The  "  St.  Louis  School  Report"  for  1878  publishes  a  list  of 
one  hundred  and  forty-one  cities,  each  with  a  population  of 
seventy-five  hundred  or  more,  which  then  had  public  high- 

*  The  Lowell  High-School  (1831)  was  opened  to  both  sexes,  but  seems 
to  have  been  rather  a  mixed  academy  than  a  specialized  secondary  school. 

t  Mr.  J.  F.  Babcock,  Secretary  of  the  Ne-w  Haven  (Connecticut)  School 
Committee,  having  made  a  careful  and  extended  inquiry  into  the  subject, 
said  he  was  not  aware  of  any  city  of  the  size  of  New  Haven  that  had  even 
a  tolerable  system  of  schools  that  had  not  then  (185C)  its  high-school  also. 


340  CUBRENT  EDUCATIONAL  INTERESTS. 

schools ;  adding  that  in  smaller  cities,  and  other  lai^  ones 
not  reporting,  there  were  more  than  twice  as  many.  The 
latest  educational  reports  from  cities  of  five  thousand  inhab- 
itants and  upward,  show  three  hundred  and  forty-two  cities 
having  high-schools,  with  more  than  seventy  thousand 
pupils. 

A..   THE   LEGAL   ASPECT   OF  THE  HIGH-SCHOOL. 

By  public  schools  in  the  United  States  are  meant  those 
maintained  at  public  cost^  or  under  public  control — usually 
both.  School  management  everywhere  has  led  uniformly 
to  some  sort  of  gradation.  The  several  grades  are  so  ad- 
justed as  to  form  together  a  system  which,  under  the  control 
of  the  State,  is  known  as  the  common-school  system.  Tliat 
the  high-school,  in  some  form,  is  as  legitimate  a  part  of  this 
system  as  is  the  primary  school,  has  frequent  historical  con- 
firmation. It  is  recognized  not  only  in  the  published  senti- 
ments of  educators  and  statesmen,  in  school  and  college 
texts,  courses  of  study,  and  systems  of  promotion,  but  in  State 
Constitutions,  and  national  and  State  appropriations  of  land 
and  money.  Of  the  thirty-eight  State  Constitutions,  twenty- 
two  specify  high-schools  as  an  object  of  legislative  and  gen- 
eral interest ;  three  others  direct  a  "  general,  suitable,  and 
eflBcient  system,"  which  shall  be  gratuitously  open  to  all 
children  between  six  and  twenty-one  years  of  age;  and  one, 
"such  grades  of  schools  as  are  for  the  public  good." 

Nevertheless,  there  have  not  been  wanting  those  who 
deny  the  right  of  the  State — certainly  its  duty — ^to  provide 
free  secondary  education.  To  understand  the  history  and 
general  conditions  of  the  legal  phase  of  this  question  it  is 
necessary  to  summarize  briefly  the  objections  which  have 
been  made  to  the  school. 

The  first  one  seems  to  have  been  founded  upon  the  as- 
sumption that  public  schools  are  essentially  charitable  insti- 
tutions, and  that  their  patrons  have  no  right  to  demand  or 
expect  more  than  elementary  instruction.  Others,  with  a 
tinge  of  like  assurance,  have  insisted  that  such  considerable 
learning  has  the  effect  to  educate  children  out  of  their  des- 


THE  GRADATION  OF  SCHOOLS.  34I 

tined  sphere  in  life,  and  for  the  industrial  good  of  society- 
should  be  withheld.  One  class  objects  that,  as  the  high- 
school  formed  no  part  of  the  system  of  free  schools  as  origi- 
nally established,  it  has  now  no  constitutional  right  to  exist ; 
and  that  tuition  should  be  charged  for  all  instruction  beyond 
the  rudiments.  It  has  been  claimed,  further,  that  but  few 
children  are  found  in  these  schools,  and  it  is  manifestly  un- 
just to  tax  the  general  public  for  their  maintenance.  In  this 
same  spirit  also  it  has  been  argued  that,  as  the  few  who  do 
attend  come  from  families  of  affluence,  it  is  unfair  to  tax  the 
poor  for  their  support.* 

All  these  questions,  in  some  or  other  of  their  phases,  have 
come  up  for  settlement  before  the  law.  Without  comment- 
ing upon  any  of  them,  the  following  reports  of  cases  are 
cited  as  showing  the  attitude  of  the  courts,  historically,  upon 
the  subject : 

Commonwealth  of  Massachusetts  vs.  the  Town  of  Ded- 

HAM,  1817. 

Indictment  was  found  in  the  lower  court  against  the 
town,  in  its  corporate  capacity,  for  failure  to  maintain  at 
public  expense  a  "grammar-schoolmaster,  of  good  morals 
and  well  instructed  in  the  Latin,  Greek,  and  English  lan- 
guages, to  instruct  children  and  youth  in  such  languages." 
The  finding  was  sustained  by  the  Supreme  Court,  and  the 
principle  held  that  "  every  inhabitant  had  the  right  to  par- 
ticipate in  both  descriptions  of  schools  "  t  (lower  and  higher). 

CusHiNG  vs.  Newburyport,  18—. 

In  a  suit  brought  to  restrain  the  collection  of  a  tax  for 
the  support  of  a  high-school,  it  was  held  that  the  "  schools 
established  by  the  town  of  Newburyport,  Massachusetts, 

*  In  1848,  in  Norwich,  Connecticut,  it  was  said,  when  steps  were  taken 
to  establish  a  higli-scliool,  "  It's  a  shame  to  tax  the  poor  to  pay  a  man 
eighteen  hundred  dollars  a  year  for  teaching  children  to  make  ai's  and  pot- 
hooks and  gabble  parley-vous.'''' 

t  Tyng's  "  Eeports,"  Massachusetts,  vol.  xvi,  p.  141. 


342  CURRENT  EDUCATIONAL  INTERESTS. 

though  extending  instruction  to  branches  of  knowledge  be- 
yond those  required  by  the  statutes,  were  yet  town  (public) 
schools,  within  the  proper  meaning  of  that  term,  provided 
for  the  benefit  of  all  the  inhabitants,  and  that  the  taxes  levied 
for  the  support  of  them  were  not  illegal."  ♦ 

Stuart  et  al.  vs.  School  District  No.  1,   Kalamazoo, 
Michigan,  1874. 

This  was  a  case  similar  to  the  last,  brought  to  restrain 
the  collection  of  such  portion  of  the  school-taxes  assessed 
against  complainants  for  the  year  1872  as  was  voted  for  the 
support  of  the  high-school  in  that  village,  and  for  the  pay- 
ment of  the  salary  of  the  superintendent. 

"While  nominally  this  is  the  end  sought,"  said  Judge 
Cooley,  in  his  decision,  "  the  real  purpose  is  wider  and  vastly 
more  comprehensive,  .  .  .  inasmuch  as  it  seeks  a  judicial 
determination  of  the  right  of  the  school  authorities,  in  what 
are  called  '  union  school  districts '  of  the  State,  to  levy  taxes 
upon  the  general  public  for  the  support  of  what,  in  this 
State,  are  known  as  '  high-schools,'  and  to  make  free,  by  such 
taxation,  instruction  in  other  languages  than  the  English." 

It  was  held,  in  confirming  the  decision  of  the  lower  court, 
that "  neither  in  our  State  policy,  in  our  Constitution,  nor  in 
our  laws  do  we  find  the  primary  school  districts  restricted  in 
the  branches  of  knowledge  which  the  oflBcers  may  cause  to 
be  taught,  or  the  grade  of  instruction  that  may  be  given,  if 
the  voters  consent,  in  regular  form,  to  bear  the  expense  and 
raise  taxes  for  the  pvirpose."  t 

Richards  vs.  Raymond,  La  Salle  County,  Illinois,  1878. 

This  was  a  bill  in  equity  to  test  the  constitutionality  of 
section  35  of  the  school  law  of  Illinois,  providing  for  the  es- 

*  Metcalf '8  "  BeportB,"  Massachusetts,  vol.  x,  p.  508. 

t  A  full  report  of  this  interesting  case  may  be  found  in  the  "  Michigan 
School  Report"  for  the  year  1874,  p.  409.  It  was  also  held  in  this  case  that 
"  the  power  to  appoint  a  superintendent  was  incident  to  the  full  control 
which,  by  law,  the  board  has  over  the  schools  of  a  district." 


THE  GRADATION  OF  SCHOOLS.  34.3 

tablishment  of  high-schools  to  be  operated  under  special 
charters.  It  was  held  that  "  the  law  was  constitutional,  and 
the  levy  and  collection  of  a  tax  to  maintain  the  school 
was  proper,  although  the  course  of  study  prescribed  was  dif- 
ferent from  that  contemplated  by  the  law."  * 

Powell  et  al.  vs.  the  Board  of  Education  of  School  Dis- 
trict No.  4,  St.  Clair  County,  Illinois,  1880, 

This  case  rested  upon  the  right  to  require  the  study  of 
German  in  the  public  schools,  and  was  brought  by  a  num- 
ber of  tax-payers  against  the  village  Board  of  Education  to 
enjoin  what  they  alleged  was  a  misappropriation  of  the 
school-funds.  The  Supreme  Coui-t  affirmed  the  judgments 
of  the  lower  court,  holding  that  there  was  nothing  "  to  show 
that  the  school  was  not  an  English  school,  in  which  the 
common  medium  of  instruction  is  the  English  language  " ; 
and,  further,  that  "  the  mere  fact  that  the  German  language 
is  one  of  the  branches  of  study  prescribed  does  not  change 
its  character  as  an  English  school."  t 

B.    THE    FUNCTION    OF   TUE    HiaH-SCHOOI.. 

Among  secondary  schools  the  American  high-school  is 
unique.    It  shares  with  academies  and  normal  schools  and 
college  preparatory  departments  the  privilege  of  fitting  for 
university  studies,  but  has  also  an  independent  function. 
The  two  services  are  not  always  distinct,  though  usually  so. 
The  institution  is  now  emphatically  an  industrial  agency,  I 
fitting  for  business  or  trades ;  and,  again,  a  school  of  English  I 
culture,  but  excluding  what  is  not   narrowly  American.  Ml 
Here  it  is  classical  and  complete,  looking  to  the  college  or 
the  profession ;  there,  honored  as  the  apex  of  the  common- 
school,  system— the  goal  of  school  life.     Usually  its  course 
is  overcrowded,  often  with  a  bias  that  obstructs  general  de- 

*  "Ninety- second  Illinois,"  p.  612. 

+  For  a  full  presentation  of  this  case  and  the  text  of  Judge  Scott's  de- 
cision, sec  "Illinois  School  Eeport,"  1881-'82,  p.  107. 


344  CURRENT  EDUCATIONAL  INTERESTS. 

velopment;  but,  variously  modified  by  material  considera- 
tions or  culture  environments,  by  wealth  and  ancestry,  it 
has  yet  certain  well-marked  functions,  and  falls  into  classes 
fairly  discriminated. 

Its  origin,  its  aims,  its  methods,  all  mark  its  kinship  with 
institutions  below  i-ather  than  above  it.  It  appears  as  the 
completion  of  the  one  system  rather  than  an  introduction  to 
the  other.  Viewed  from  the  side  of  its  organization  it  pre- 
pares for  life,  not  for  learning;  it  fits  for  industry,  not 
study.  And  yet  it  seldom  loses  sight  altogether  of  the  end 
of  culture.  If  the  two  ends  are  one,  or  if  the  means  to  those 
ends  coincide,  then  will  the  function  be  single.  With  a 
somewhat  homogeneous  organization,  however,  it  frequently 
exercises  very  diverse  functions. 

That,  in  the  one  view,  the  demand  for  industrial  training, 
for  business  courses,  studies  in  government,  economics,  etc., 
has  not  always  been  an  intelligent  one,  goes  without  saying ; 
but  whether  a  rational  or  instinctive  insight,  the  intimate 
organic  relation  of  the  high-school  with  the  grades  below, 
has  emphasized  with  many  the  impression  that  the  system  is 
all  one ;  that,  for  the  people,  by  a  large  majority,  the  high- 
school  is  a  finishing  school,  and,  as  such,  should  be  adapted 
to  the  immediate  and  pressing  and  understood  wants  of  the 
people. 

On  the  contrary,  there  is  discernible  a  marked  educa- 
tional tendency  toward  centralization.  No  part  of  our  edu- 
cational policy  is  better  defined  than  the  constant,  generous 
governmental  support  and  encouragement  accorded  to  insti- 
tutions of  learning.  The  conviction  grows,  in  a  most  whole- 
some way,  that  every  child  of  every  Commonwealth  should 
have  access  gratuitously,  and  without  needless  restriction,  to 
every  grade  of  education,  from  the  most  elementary  to  the 
most  comprehensive,  which  public  wealth  can  buy ;  that  no 
step  shall  be  wanting ;  that  no  part  shall  be  left  wholly  to 
chance  or  to  private  enterprise.  Each  stage  of  the  system 
should  fit  itself  to  its  neighbor.  The  elementary  must  not 
attempt  the  work  of  the  high-school,  nor  this  of  the  college ; 


THE  GRADATION  OF  SCHOOLS.  345 

no  more  must  gaps  be  left  between.  This  is  the  State's  ideal. 
As  a  matter  of  fact,  circumstances  determine  more  or  less  of 
modification.  In  sections  where  other  secondary  agencies 
faU,  and  the  college  spirit  prevails,  the  high-school  becomes 
the  legitimate  fitting  school. 

The  attempt  to  give  permanence  and  system  to  this  rela- 
tion of  the  high-school  and  the  university  has  worked  out 
in  what  is  called  the  diploma  system  in  Michigan,  the  High- 
School  Board  in  Minnesota,  and  commissioned  high-schools 
in  half  a  dozen  States. 

(1.)  Michigan  High-Schools. 

Dating  from  1837,  the  University  of  Michigan  was  au- 
thorized to  establish,  in  the  State,  branch  schools,  to  be  under 
its  direction,  with  uniform  courses  of  study  and  tributary  to 
it.  In  three  years  seven  such  branches  had  been  established. 
The  reason  assigned  twelve  years  after  for  their  decline  was 
that  "  they  were  not  able  at  the  same  time  to  perform  the 
functions  of  a  common  school  and  those  of  a  branch  of  the 
university."  * 

Nevertheless,  as  the  years  went  on,  the  Superintendents 
Mayhew  and  Gregory  and  Shearman,  and  President  Tappan, 
favored  a  closer  union  of  the  academies  and  public  schools 
on  the  one  hand,  and  the  university  on  the  other.  In  1870 
it  was  recommended  by  the  faculty  of  the  university  that  a 
"  commission  of  examiners  "  be  appointed  who  should  visit 
annually  such  schools  as  desired  it,  giving  certificates  to 
those  pupils  who  were  successful  in  examination,  which 
should  admit  directly  to  the  university.  The  year  following 
a  plan  very  similar  was  adopted.  Pupils  have  since  been 
received  upon  the  diplomas  of  accredited  schools.  In  1876 
there  were  eight  such  high-schools ;  four  years  later  there 
were  sixteen.  Since  1884  the  same  conditions  have  been 
extended  to,  and  accepted  by,  certain  schools  in  New  York, 
Illinois,  Minnesota,  and  California.      The  experiment  in 

*  "Keport  of  Eegents  of  the  University,"  1852. 


346  CURRENT  EDUCATIONAL  INTERESTS. 

Michigan  is  wholly  voluntary,  having  its  origin  and  its  de- 
velopment in  the  readiness  of  both  lower  and  higher  schools 
to  co-operate  for  their  mutual  advantage, 

(2.)  Minnesota  High-Schools. 

Seven  years  ago  (1881)  the  State  of  Minnesota  attempted 
to  effect  a  similar  union  by  legislation.  A  "  High-School 
Board"  was  constituted  for  the  encouragement  of  liberal 
education  in  the  State.  Through  this  board  the  law  provides 
for  the  I'endering  of  pecuniary  aid  to  such  schools  as  shall 
have  "regular  and  orderly  courses  of  study,  embracing  all 
the  branches  prescribed  as  requisite  for  admission  to  the  col- 
legiate department  of  the  university."  The  New  York  plan 
is  similar  to  this,  the  distribution  of  funds  being  made  and 
certificates  given  by  the  "  Board  of  Regents  of  the  University 
of  the  State  of  New  York."  * 

(3.)  Commissioned  High-Schools. 

Following  the  experiment  in  these  States,  and  especially 
in  Michigan,  as  the  first  attempt,  the  idea  has  been  adopted 
in  Indiana,  Nebraska,  Iowa,  Kansas,  and  perhaps  other 
States  —  not  always,  unfortunately,  with  careful  guards 
thrown  about  its  application,  like  those  in  Michigan  and 
Minnesota. 

Since  1881  graduates  of  approved  high-schools  in  Cali- 
fornia have  been  admitted  to  the  State  University ;  and  since 
1878  graduates  of  the  Hopkins  Grammar-School,  New  Haven, 
to  Yale.  Dartmouth  has  for  ten  years  had  a  like  arrange- 
ment with  local  schools,  and  recently  Rutgers. 

Bibliography. 

"  Annals  of  the  Boston  Primary  School  Committee,"  by  J.  Wightman, 
1860  (comprises  the  history  of  primary  education  for  a  large  part  of  New 

*  For  a  general  discimsion  of  this  subject,  see  "  Relations  of  High-Schools 
and  Colleges,"  in  "  Proceedings  of  National  Educational  Association,"  Chi- 
cago, 1887,  p.  282. 


EDUCATION  IN  THE  SOUTH.  347 

England,  and  is  of  general  interest) ;  "  Courses  and  Methods  for  Primary, 
Grammar,  and  Ungraded  Schools,"  J.  T.  Prince,  1886 ;  "  District  Schools," 
J.  0.  Taylor,  1834;  "Graduating  System  for  Country  Schools,"  A.  L. 
Wade,  1881;  "The  Kindergarten  in  America,"  Steiger,  1872;  "The 
Kindergarten  in  the  United  States,"  by  Kate  B.  Ford,  "  Michigan  School 
Report,"  1877,  p.  287;  "Lectures  in  the  Training-School  for  Kindergart- 
ners,"  Miss  E.  P.  Peabody,  1886 ;  "Reports  of  the  St.  Louis  City  Schools 
for  1875-'76,  1876-'77,  and  1878-'79,"  by  Dr.  W.  T.  Harris,  on  the 
"  Philosophy  of  the  Kindergarten "  and  the  "  History  of  the  System  in 
St.  Louis";  "The  High-School  and  the  College,"  C.  W.  Tufts,  "New 
England  Journal  of  Education,"  February  12,  1885  ;  "Relation  of  Sec- 
ondary Education  to  the  American  University  Problem,"  A.  F.  West, 
"Proceedings  of  the  National  Educational  Association,"  1885;  "The 
Function  of  the  High-School  as  a  Factor  in  Public  Education,"  H.  H. 
Morgan,  "  New  England  Journal  of  Education,"  vol.  xii.  No.  24 ;  "  Re- 
port on  Preparation  for  College,"  "  Proceedings  of  the  National  Council 
of  Education,"  1884,  p.  36 ;  "  City  School  Systems  in  the  United  States," 
by  J.  D.  Philbrick,  1885. 


CHAPTER  XX. 

EDUCATION  IN  THE  SOUTH. 

There  are  three  well-defined  periods  in  the  educational 
history  of  the  South:  1.  The  colonial  period;  2.  The  ante- 
war  i)eriod ;  3.  The  period  of  reorganization. 

During  the  first  of  these,  if  the  systems  of  Massachusetts 
and  Connecticut  be  excepted,  parts  of  the  South  wei^  even 
better  supplied  with  the  means  of  education  than  most  colo- 
nies North,  This  means  only  that  throughout  this  period 
and  for  almost  the  entire  country  the  only  established 
agencies  were  private  and  parochial  schools,  and  these, 
in  the  early  days  of  Georgia,  South  Carolina,  and  Vir- 
ginia, were  superior.  The  reorganization  came  a  quarter 
of  a  century  later  in  most  of  these  States  than  in  the 
North  and  West. 


348  CURRENT  EDUCATIONAL  INTERESTa 

1.  The  Ante-war  Period. 

In  the  second  period  began  the  educational  divergence 
between  the  two  sections.  The  South  perfected  existing  in- 
stitutions, adapting  them  to  the  peculiar  social  and  govern- 
mental conditions.  The  North  founded  new  ones — tlie  pub- 
lic free  schools.  The  colleges  and  academies  and  denomina- 
tional seminaries  met  the  common  want  of  the  financially 
independent  planter,  and,  for  anything  more,  sons  were 
sent  to  the  North  or  abroad.  It  was  estimated  in  1855,  by 
eminent  authority,*  that  for  many  years  before  the  war  the 
South  paid  annually  to  the  North  for  books  and  education 
not  less  than  five  million  dollars.  And  yet  in  most  States 
something  had  been  done  looking  toward  common  schools ; 
but  it  was  done  half-heartedly,  as  wiU  appear,  and  in  the 
midst  of  the  most  unfavorable  conditions.  To  those  familiar 
with  these  conditions  and  the  prevalent  social  and  ethical 
standards,  the  common  sentiment  concerning  public  schools 
can  not  seem  strange. 

Georgia  as  early  as  1792  had  taken  steps  for  a  high-grade 
school  in  each  county,  and  in  1821  appropriated  two  hundred 
and  fifty  thousand  dollars  to  their  maintenance.  Two  years 
later  a  like  fund  was  set  apart  for  the  use  of  the  elementary 
or  "  poor  schools."  Beginnings  were  made  in  Virginia  for  a 
literary  fund  in  1810,  and  a  decade  later  in  Kentucky.  Lou- 
isiana, Mississippi,  and  Tennessee  made  appropriations  of 
land.  Seven  of  the  States — Alabama,  Delaware,  Georgia, 
Kentucky,  Missouri,  North  Carolina,  and  South  Carolina — 
applied  their  shares  of  the  surplus  revenue  in  whole  or  in 
part  to  education.  This  alone  aggregated  three  and  a  half 
millions,  and  under  favorable  conditions  would  have  been  a 
powerful  factor  in  their  school  administration.  Maryland 
as  early  as  1825  had  a  State  School  Superintendent  and 
others  later.  Greorgia,  North  Carolina,  Louisiana,  Missis- 
sippi, Tennessee,  Alabama,  and  Kentucky  each  spent  annu- 

*  J.  B.  Do  Bow,  "  Review,"  vol.  xviii,  p.  664. 


EDUCATION  IN  THE  SOUTH.  349 

ally  on  common  schools  for  many  years  from  one  fourth  to 
three  fourths  of  a  million  dollars.  The  result  of  the  effort 
was  the  establishment  of  systems  in  Baltimore,  St.  Louis,  and 
Louisville,  with  beginnings  in  New  Orleans  and  Charleston. 

Speaking  bi-oadly,  all  attempts  at  public  education,  as  is 
seen  now,  were  stamped  with  failure  from  the  beginning — 
with  failure,  if  by  success  is  meant  making  the  schools  free 
and  equally  open  to  all  without  class  implications.*  First, 
the  general  better  class  sentiment  of  these  States  was,  if  not 
antagonistic,  at  least  indifferent  to  a  free  education.  Li 
1859  it  was  asserted  that  the  New  England  system  was  not 
adapted  to  Louisiana  and  the  South.  A  Southern  review 
said :  "  After  ten  years'  trial  it  has  been  proved  that  the  laws 
can  not  be  carried  out,  that  more  than  half  the  families  in 
Louisiana  will  not  accept  of  the  mental  food  the  State  offers 
to  her  children.  Some  parishes  will  not  receive  any  of  it."t 
It  was  said  of  Texas  about  the  same  time  that,  while  taxed 
sixteen  thousand  dollars  for  public  schools,  there  was  not 
one  in  the  State.  Yet  nearly  every  planter  had  a  school  in 
his  own  house.  That  the  feeling  sometimes  appeared  in 
stronger  antagonism  is  shown  by  another  extract  from  the 
same  authority  (1858).  After  quoting  those  who,  while  ad- 
mitting that  the  system  had  failed  in  rural  districts,  yet 
asserted  its  success  in  New  Orleans,  the  ^vriter  said,  ''If  the 
tree  be  judged  by  its  fruits,  it  is  poisonous  instead  of  salutary 
to  republican  institions  in  our  grexit  cities." 

Further,  under  the  most  favorable  circumstances,  the 
laws  that  were  enacted  were,  almost  without  exception,  per- 
missive only.  In  a  report  made  to  the  Delaware  Convention 
in  1843  was  a  section  on  education  showing  how  fundament- 
ally the  citizenship  of  that  State  rested  upon  optional  taxa- 
tion.   It  said : 

"  The  report  of  the  Massachusetts  Board  of  Education  de- 
clai'es  that  the  cardinal  principle  which  lies  at  the  founda- 

*  Of  course,  no  consideration  is  had  of  the  negro  in  this  period, 
t  "  De  Bow's  Eeview,"  vol.  xvii,  p.  278. 
23 


350  CURRENT  EDUCATIONAL  INTERESTS. 

tion  of  their  educational  system  is  that  all  the  children  of 
the  State  shall  be  educated  by  the  State.  Let  it  be  distinctly 
remarked  that  this  is  not  the  principle  of  our  school  system, 
but  that  our  system  is  founded  upon  the  position  that  the  peo- 
ple must  educate  their  own  children ;  and  that  all  the  State 
should  do  or  can  do  for  any  useful  effect  is  to  organize  them 
into  communities,  so  as  they  may  act  together  for  that  pur- 
pose and  help  and  encourage  them  to  act  efl&ciently.  The 
school  of  every  district  is  thus  in  the  power  of  its  voters. 
They  can  have  as  good  schools  as  they  wish,  or  an  inferior 
school,  or  no  school."  * 

Most  States,  however,  provided  some  means  of  schooling 
the  children  of  those  who  were  unable  to  educate  their  own. 
In  South  CaroUna  the  schools  were  for  all,  preference  being 
given  to  the  poor.  In  Virginia  these  were  paid  for  by  the 
State  at  the  rate  of  four  to  eight  cents  per  day.  In  general 
this  was  the  "  pauper  system  "  that  had  worked  such  disaster 
in  one  or  two  Northern  States,  and  those  who  could  do 
otherwise  would  have  nothing  of  it.  The  tendency  to  large 
plantations  also  and  small  towns  negatived  the  free-school 
impulse,  while  "the  existence  of  slavery,"  says  Ramage, 
*'  prevented  the  growth  of  a  large  middle  class,  out  of  whose 
ranks  the  patrons  of  the  common  school  are  so  strongly  re- 
cruited." 

S.  The  Period  of  Reorganization. 

With  the  close  of  the  war  came  new  conditions,  new  in- 
stitutions, and  new  standards  of  public  policy  and  adminis- 
tration. Taxable  property  had  depreciated  sixty  per  cent  at 
a  stroke,  and  four  million  illiterates  were  added  to  the  school 
population.  The  educational  problem  set  for  solution,  it 
has  been  said,  was  how  to  educate  three  times  the  number  of 
children  with  one  third  the  money.  School  funds  had  been 
wasted  in  the  conflict  to  the  amount  of  millions.  Banks 
were  gone,  investments  of  every  sort  swept  away,  and  per- 

*  Delaware  has  no  State  School  Superintendent,  and  but  little  system  in 
State  schools. 


EDUCATION  IN  THE  SOUTH.  351 

sonal  security  was  valueless.  There  was  no  currency,  no 
independent  industry.  Labor  was  disorganized.  There  was 
no  skill  in  the  use  of  tools,  no  co-operation.  Private  schools, 
once  the  pride  of  the  South,  were  closed  for  want  of  patron- 
age. There  were  no  public  schools,  but  in  their  stead  an 
overmastering  ignorance  of  their  beneficent  influences ;  ig- 
noi-ance  of  their  management  and  their  accompanying  in- 
stitutions; and,  next  to  the  want  of  efficient  teachers  and 
funds  -and  the  prevailing  indisposition  to  taxation,  the  ab- 
sence of  an  established  authority  that  could  be  used  to  gather 
data  for  an  intelligent  organization  and  oversight  of  edu- 
cational forces  was  the  most  serious  obstacle.  For  ten  years 
in  educational  affairs  the  executive  energy  and  control  were 
from  without.  That  it  has  not  remained  so  is  an  index  of 
the  marvelous  elasticity  of  the  Southern  mind. 

A.    THE   FREEDMEN'S   AID   SOCIETY. 

In  the  year  1861  was  opened  a  school  at  Fortress  Monroe 
for  colored  youth — fugitive  slaves — by  the  American  Mis- 
sionary Association.  Immediately  almost  was  formed  the 
Freedmen's  Aid  Society,  which,  all  through  the  war,  and 
afterward  until  1869,.  estabhshed  schools  and  furnished 
houses  and  teachers,  and  may  be  said,  along  with  the  Mis- 
sionary Association,  to  have  initiated  the  work  of  negro  edu- 
cation in  the  South.  At  the  close  of  the  war  the  society  had 
six  hxmdred  teachers  and  many  thousand  pupils. 

In  the  eight  years  of  its  existence  it  expended  $1,350,000 
on  its  work,  which  at  its  dissolution  passed  into  the  hands  of 
denominational  agencies,  by  whom,  during  the  war  even, 
schools  and  churches  had  been  planted  in  half  a  dozen  States. 

B.    GOVERNMENT   AGENCY. 

The  Freedmen's  Bureau  was  a  Government  institution, 
created  by  act  of  Congress,  March  3,  1865,  as  a  "  Bureau  of 
Refugees,  Freedmen,  and  Abandoned  Lands."  It  soon  took 
the  shorter  name,  and,  while  having  other  functions,  also, 
was  predominantly  serviceable  as  an  educational  agency. 


352  CURRENT  EDUCATIONAL  INTERESTS. 

It  took  hold  of  schools  already  established,  co-operated 
with  the  churches  and  other  corporations,  built  houses  and 
hired  teachers.  During  the  first  year  (1865-'66)  the  Bureau 
schools — those  under  Government  supervision,  and  partially 
or  wholly  supported  by  it — had  nine  hundred  and  seventy- 
five  teachers  and  ninety-seven  thousand  five  hundred  pu- 
pils. In  four  years  it  had  developed  into  a  great  system, 
with  twenty-five  hundred  teachers  and  two  hundred  and 
fifty  thousand  pupils.  At  first  its  work  was  elementary 
only.  Both  day  and  evening  schools  were  established,  and 
industrial  schools;  and  later,  even  Sunday-schools — whatever 
was  demanded,  or  could  be  used  to  dispel  the  appalling  ig- 
norance of  the  freed  blacks.  Still  later,  by  acting  with  the 
religious  denominations,  it  assisted  in  the  founding  of  insti- 
tutions for  superior  instruction  also.  It  contributed  in  this 
way  to  Howard  University  and  Wayland  Seminary,  at 
Washington;  Claflin  University,  South  Carolina;  Fisk  Uni- 
versity and  the  Stat«  Central  College,  in  Tennessee ;  Straight 
University,  Louisiana;  and  Hampton  Normal  and  Agricult- 
ural Institute,  Virginia. 

The  great  service  rendered  by  the  Bureau  was  not  in 
hiring  teachers,  or  meeting  any  current  expenses,  but  in 
erecting  buildings.  In  respect  to  this  first  need,  the  Govern- 
ment was  a  strong  arm  and  a  ready  purse  in  an  emergency. 
It  did  easily  and  at  once  for  the  South  what  it  must  have 
taken  them  years  to  accomplish  unaided  or  through  pri- 
vate beneficence  alone.  The  general  functions  of  the  ofiico 
ceased  in  1869,  its  educational  support  continuing  in  certain 
States  a  year  longer.  It  had  done  a  great  work,  one  of 
the  pronounced  benefactions  of  the  General  Government. 
In  the  five  years  of  its  existence  it  had  contributed  to  the 
schools  $5,250,000. 

C.   DENOMINATIONAL  AQENCIKS. 

Increasingly,  the  oversight,  much  of  the  supi)ort,  and  the 
enlargement  of  the  established  institutions  passed  into  the 
hands    of    the   missionary    organizations,    chiefly  of   the 


EDUCATION  IN  THE  SOUTH.         353 

churches,  though  not  a  few  of  the  foundations  were  unsec- 
tarian ;  and  ultimately  drifted  into  or  were  absorbed  by  the 
public  systems.  Prominently  active  among  these  agencies 
were: 

1.  The  American  Missionary  Association. 

2.  The  Freedmen's  Aid  Society  of  the  Methodist  Episco- 
pal Church. 

3.  The  Presbyterian  Board  of  Missions  for  Freedmen. 

4.  The  American  Baptist  Home  Mission  Society. 

5.  The  work  of  Congregationalists,  Friends,  Unitari- 
ans, etc. 

The  first  of  these,  the  American  Missionary  Association, 
was  organized  in  1866  for  Southern  work,  and,  next  to  the 
national  Government,  has  been  the  largest  contributor  to 
education  in  that  section.  In  twenty  years  it  has  spent 
$6,000,000,  and  has  now  under  its  control  nine  institutions 
for  superior  and  professional  instruction,  more  than  a  dozen 
normal  schools,  and  fifty  elementary  and  academic  schools, 
with  an  aggregate  of  nearly  three  hundred  teachers  and 
twenty  thousand  pupils. 

The  Freedmen's  Aid  Society  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church  was  organized  in  1866  also,  with  a  fourfold  purpose 
(among  negroes  primarily,  though  theu*  recent  interest  has 
extended  to  whites  also) :  1.  The  preparation  of  ministers. 
2.  The  preparation  of  teachers.  3.  The  education  of  physi- 
cians. 4.  The  elevation  of  colored  women  of  the  South. 
The  society  has  charge  of  seven  chartered  university  organi- 
zations in  as  many  States — the  Central  Tennessee  College, 
Clark  University,  Georgia,  Clafiin  University,  South  Caro- 
lina, New  Orleans  University,  the  Philander  Smith  College, 
Arkansas,  Rust  University,  Mississippi,  and  Wiley  Univer- 
sity, Texas.  In  addition  to  these,  it  supports  three  theologi- 
cal schools,  one  medical  college,  two  normal  schools,  and 
eleven  seminaries  and  academies.  It  has  more  than  half  a 
million  dollars  invested  in  permanent  school  property,  and 
has  collected  and  disbursed  in  twenty  years  $2,000,000. 

The  Presbyterian  Board  expends  annually  in  this  section 


354  CURRENT  EDUCATIONAL  INTERESTS. 

from  $30,000  to  $50,000,  and  the  Baptist  Society  about  as 
much,  the  latter  having  institutions  at  Washington,  Rich- 
mond, Baltimore,  Raleigh,  Columbia,  Augusta,  Nashville, 
and  New  Orleans. 

D.   THB  FEABODT   FUND. 

Few  men  have  given  more  to  benevolent  purposes,  none 
more  wisely,  than  George  Peabody.  Besides  two  and  a  half 
millions  to  organized  charity  in  London,  $10,000  to  the  Kane 
Arctic  Expedition,  and  $15,000  to  the  London  Exposition  of 
1851,  he  distributed  in  life  and  at  his  death  nearly  $6,000,000 
for  education  in  the  United  States.  A  table  of  these  bene- 
factions is  presented,  setting  forth  his  numerous  large  gifts, 
and  the  magnitude  of  his  service  to  the  South : 

Benefactions  of  George  Peabody. 

INSTITUTION.  Amount. 

1.  Library  at  Thetford,  Vt $5,500 

2.  Library  at  Newburyport,  Mass 15,000 

3.  Library  at  Georgetown,  D.  C 15,000 

4.  Library  at  Teabody,  Mass 125,000 

5.  Library  at  Danvers,  Mass 125,000 

6.  Museum  at  Harvard,  Mass : 150,000 

1.  Museum  at  Yale,  Conn 150,000 

8.  Kenyon  CoUejfe,  Ohio 25,000 

9.  Washington  and  Lee  University,  Virginia 145,000 

10.  Phillips  Academy,  Andover,  Mass 25,000 

11.  Peabody  Academy,  Salem,  Mass 140,000 

12.  Peabody  Institute,  Baltimore,  Md 1,400,000 

13.  Massachusetts  Historical  Society 20,000 

14.  Maryland  Historical  Society 20,000 

15.  Peabody  Fund  for  the  South 8,100,000 

16.  London  Charity 2,500,000 

17.  Memorial  Church,  Gcoi^town,  Mass 100,000 

18.  Kane  Arctic  Expedition 10,000 

19.  London  Exposition,  1851 15,000 

20.  United  States  Sanitary  Commission 10,000 

21.  Commission  to  Maryland 60,000 

22.  To  uphold  the  credit  of  the  South..... 40,000 

Total 18,195,500 


EDUCATION  IN   THE  SOUTH.  355 

Impressed  with  the  need  of  the  more  favored  and  wealthy- 
portions  of  our  nation  to  assist  the  less  fortunate,  Mr.  Pea- 
body  gave  (February,  1867)  to  R.  C.  Winthrop  and  fourteen 
others — ^trustees — one  million  dollars  to  be  held  in  trust,  and 
"  the  income  thereof  applied  and  used  for  the  promotion  of 
intellectual,  moral,  and  industrial  education  among  the  more 
destitute  portions  of  the  Southern  and  Southwestern  States 
of  our  Union."  His  purpose  was  as  generous  as  his  purse; 
and,  with  the  bias  of  a  philanthropist  only,  he  charged  that 
the  benefit  should  be  "  distributed  among  the  entire  popula- 
tion, without  other  distinction  than  their  needs  and  the  op- 
portunities of  usefulness  to  them."  The  same  year  was 
added  to  this  amount  another  $1,100,000  in  Mississippi  State 
bonds,  and  two  years  afterward,  upon  his  death,  a  bequest  of 
$1,000,000  in  railroad,  State,  city,  and  bank  bonds  of  various 
descriptions,  and  completing  the  total  of  $3,100,000. 

Dr.  Barnas  Sears,  then  President  of  Brown  University, 
was  immediately  made  general  agent  of  the  board,  and  began 
one  of  the  grandest  educational  experiments  and  the  most 
successful  laboi"s  of  the  century.  At  the  same  time,  dona- 
tions of  school  text-books  were  tendered  by  prominent  pub- 
lishing houses  to  the  amount  oif  nearly  one  hundred  and  fifty 
thousand  volumes. 

It  was  early  agreed  by  the  board  that  only  those  should 
receive  aid  who  had  first  contributed  to  the  support  of  their 
own  schools,  and  that  the  amount  raised  by  the  district  must 
be  twice  that  received  from  the  fund.  Further,  schools  aided 
must  have  at  least  a  hundred  pupils,  with  a  teacher  for  every 
fifty;  they  must  be  graded,  and  must  continue  through  the 
school  year  with  an  average  attendance  of  not  less  than 
eighty-five  per  cent.  With  these  careful  guards  against 
waste,  the  Peabody  beneficence  "  gave  the  earliest  impulse 
to  the  cause  of  common-school  education,  which  was  vital 
to  the  regeneration  of  the  States  impoverished  and  devastated 
by  war."  By  requiring  the  best,  and  insisting  upon  local 
effort,  it  set  standards  and  initiated  habits  of  fundamental 
importance.    By  1872  the  cities  of  Savannah  and  Columbus, 


35G  CURRENT  EDUCATIONAL  INTERESTS. 

Georgia,  Natchez  and  Vicksburg,   Mississippi,  and  a  few 
others,  had  already  become  self-supporting. 

It  was  early  felt  that,  with  public  schools  begun  and  laws 
formulated,  the  furnishing  of  capable  teachers,  and  some 
skill  in  industry,  were  of  importance.  So  that,  in  addition 
to  appropriation  to  common  schools,  aid  was  applied  (1875) 
to  institutions  having  in  view  these  special  trainings.  In 
the  twenty  years  aid  has  been  given  to  twelve  States,  as 
shown  in  the  table: 

JHsiribution  of  (he  Peabody  Fund. 


STATES.  Amounts. 

8.  South  Carolina $77,950 

9.  Tennessee 306,975 

10.  Texas 122,350 

11.  Virginia 267,599 

12.  West  Virginia. 137,010 


STATES.  Amounts. 

1.  Alabama. $95,200 

2.  Arliansas 103,475 

3.  Florida 72,075 

4.  Georgia. 123,127 

5.  Louisiana. 96,870 

6.  Mississippi 88,383  I  

7.  North  Carolina 138,315  |  $1,629,249 

K.    THE   SLATEB    FUND. 

In  the  year  1882,  fifteen  years  after  the  Peabody  dona- 
tion, Mr.  John  F.  Slater,  of  Norwich,  Connecticut,  conveyed 
to  trustees  $1,000,000  cash  to  be  invested  for  the  education  of 
the  freedmen  of  the  South.  Rev.  Atticus  G.  Haygood  has 
been  agent  of  the  trust  from  the  first.  Its  appropriations 
have  been  principally  devoted  to  the  industrial  elevation  of 
the  colored  youth,  and  to  their  medical  education.  These 
have  averaged  $30,000  a  year,  and  extended  to  eleven  States, 
omitting  Florida  and  West  Virginia  in  the  Peabody  list, 
and  including  Kentucky  and  the  District  of  Columbia.  Its 
aid  has  been  given  to  about  forty  institutions  annually  (all 
for  colored  students),  among  which  are  State  universities 
and  normal  schools,  the  Meharry  Medical  College,  indus- 
trial schools,  and  female  seminaries — the  best  in  the  South. 
By  its  assistance  have  been  introduced  into  Central  Tennes- 
see College  carpentry  and  printing ;  shoemaking,  smithing, 
and  a  workshop  into  Claflin  University;  carriage  and  haiv 


EDUCATION  IN  THE  SOUTH.  357 

ness  making  and  painting  into  Clark  University,  and  into 
most  of  them  sewing  and  general  housework  for  the  girls. 
Two  such  benefactions,  of  so  wide-spread  influence  and  so 
economically  disposed  as  the  Peabody  and  Slater  funds,  has 
the  world  scarcely  seen  elsewhere. 

F.    PUBLIC-SCHOOL    SYSTEMS. 

In  the  mean  time  much  had  been  accomplished  by  the 
people  for  themselves.  Even  before  the  centennial,  and  but 
ten  years  after  the  war,  there  were  creditable  beginnings  of 
both  State  and  city  systems  of  graded  schools ;  there  were 
superintendents  of  State,  city,  and  county;  established  sys- 
tems of  taxation,  courses  of  study,  institutes,  associations, 
etc.  To  this  end  were  and  have  been  all  the  services  of  the 
North  to  the  South,  to  make  them  independent,  to  establish 
self-supporting  institutions.  Fundamental  ideas  in  regard 
to  education  had  to  be  given  in  regard  to  schools,  and 
teachers,  and  taxation,  and  State  co-operation.  Legislation 
must  be  directed,  and  legislators  themselves  brought  to  right 
views.  These,  combined  with  wholesome  industrial  and 
social  interests  and  more  liberal  governmental  administi-a- 
tion,  have  done  much  to  help  on  the  new  South. 

Before  1870  every  Southern  State  except  Delaware  had 
made  constitutional  and  somewhat  of  legislative  provision 
for  free  schools  and  a  general  system.  Twelve  States  had 
some  form  of  State  control ;  eight  had  county  supervision. 
Normal  schools  had  been  started  in  six  States,  and  some 
progress  made  in  grading  schools  in  the  larger  cities.  Of 
the  last,  the  best  specimens  here,  as  elsewhere,  were  in  cities. 
The  sixteen  States  show  systems  in  cities  whose  combined 
school  census  aggregates  nearly  seven  hundred  thousand, 
and  having  a  school  enrollment  of  about  three  hundred 
thousand.  These  same  cities  report  forty-five  high-schools, 
with  a  membership  of  over  eight  thousand.  Of  these,  Louis- 
ville, New  Orleans,  Baltimore,  St.  Louis,  and  Richmond 
have  nearly  one  half. 


358 


CURRENT  EDUCATIONAL  INTERESTS. 


T<Me  showing  Orowth  in  Public  School  Patronage,  1872-1885,  in 
Sixteen  Soitthern  Stoics. 


STATES. 


Alabama 

Arkansas  

Delaware 

Florida 

Georj]fia 

Kentucky 

Loaisiana 

Maryland 

Missouri 

North  Carolina. 
South  Carolina . 

Tennessee 

Texas 

Virginia 

MiflsLssippi 

AVest  Virginia.. 


Total, 


Consti- 
tution. 


1868 
1868 


1865 
1868 
1873 
1868 
1864 
1865 
1868 
1868 
1867 
1869 
1867 
1868 
1863 


School  cen- 
sus, 1872. 


Enroll- 
ment, 1872 


840,000 
180,000 
40,000 
62,000 
200,000 
840,000 
182,000 
276,000 
634,000 
268,000 
197,000 
350,000 
230,000 
350,000 
246,000 
125,000 


4,080,000  1,639,000 


150,000 
62,000 
19,000 
14,000 
77,000 

181,000 
60,000 
80,000 

330,000 
51,000 
76,000 

121,000 
64,000 

167,000 

120,000 
77,0iX) 


School  cen- 
sus, 1885. 


450,000 
358,000 
46,000 
124,000 
609,000 
581,000 
311,000 
341,000 
813,000 
635,000 
275,000 
623,000 
850,000 
610,000 
450,000 
243,000 


6,619,000 


Enroll- 
ment, 1885. 


253,000 
176,000 
31,000 
61,000 
319,000 
283,000 
103,000 
175,000 
569,000 
306,000 
184,000 
883,000 
261,000 
808,000 
304,000 
172,000 


8,888,000 


O.    NORMAL   SCHOOLS. 

Thirteen  of  these  States  maintain  thirty-six  public  and 
eighteen  private  normal  schools,  enrolling  in  the  aggregate 
ten  thousand  to  twelve  thousand  students.  West  Virginia 
and  Alabama  have  each  six,  and  North  Carolina  and  Mis- 
souri five.  Kentucky,  Georgia,  and  Delaware  report  none, 
either  public  or  private. 

Some  of  these  schools  have  acquired  a  national  reputa- 
tion for  the  preparation  they  give  and  for  the  wide-spread 
influence  of  their  graduates.  The  State  Normal  College  of 
Tennessee  was  founded  in  1875,  and  has  sent  out  one  thou- 
sand teachers.  The  Tuskegee  Normal  and  Industrial  School 
(Alabama)  is  for  colored  students,  of  whom  it  has  three  hun- 
dred to  four  hundred,  with  a  faculty  of  twenty,  aU  colored. 
The  Baltimore  Normal  School  for  Colored  Teachers  was  es- 
teblished  in  1864 — two  years  before  the  State  Normal  School 
for  White  Teachers  in  the  same  city.  Of  the  five  State  schools 
for  teachers  in  North  Carolina,  four  are  for  the  negroes. 


EDUCATION  IN  THE  SOUTH.  359 

H.    COLLEGES. 

This  section  has  one  third  of  the  colleges  and  universities 
of  the  country,  and  nearly  one  third  the  instructors  and 
students.  Prominent  among  the  institutions  are  Tulaue 
University,  New  Orleans,  to  which  Mr.  Paul  Tulane  gener- 
ously gave  a  million  and  a  half  of  dollars  for  the  education 
of  the  white  youth  of  Louisiana ;  the  Vanderhilt  University, 
the  recipient  from  the  Vanderbilts  of  one  million  dollars ; 
the  University  of  the  South,  at  Sewanee,  Tennessee;  the 
University  of  Mississippi,  the  University  of  Virginia,  and 
Johns  Hopkins.  In  addition  to  the  usual  collegiate  work, 
nineteen  institutions  in  this  group  of  States  have  three  hun- 
dred graduate  students  doing  special  work. 

I.   PROFESSIONAL   SCHOOLS. 

Besides  the  institutions  for  general  culture,  the  section 
has  its  full  quota  of  professional  schools.  Of  these,  forty- 
eight  are  medical  colleges,  or  departments,  Delaware,  Missis- 
sippi, South  Carolina,  Texas,  and  West  Virginia,  reporting 
none,  and  Maryland,  Missouri,  and  the  District  of  Columbia, 
thirty  of  them. 

Twenty-five  are  law-schools,  representing  every  Southern 
State  except  Delaware  and  Florida.  The  theological  schools 
number  forty-two. 

Altogether,  the  professional  schools  report  nearly  eight 
thousand  students,  more  than  half  of  whom  are  in  the  medi- 
cal colleges. 

3.  General  Condition. 

Without  doubt  a  great  work  has  been  going  on  in  the 
'  South  these  years.  No  form  of  education  is  without  its 
representative.  There  are  thirty-six  biosiness  schools,  six- 
teen for  deaf-mutes,  twelve  for  the  blind,  one,  in  Kentucky, 
for  the  feeble-minded,  and  five  reformatories,  two  thirds  of 
all  of  which  have  been  founded  and  three  foiu-ths  of  them 
developed  in  the  last  score  of  years.  The  section  has  been 
profitably  active  in  educational  publications,  and  issues  one 


360 


CURRENT  EDUCATIONAL  INTERESTS. 


third  the  educational  journals  of  the  United  States.  Its  five 
hundred  libraries  have  an  aggregate  of  three  million  vol- 
umes. Its  university  properties  are  valued  at  eleven  million 
dollars,  and  their  productive  endowments  at  twelve  million 
dollars;  or,  with  one  third  the  superior  institutions  (128  out 
of  361),  it  has  one  fourth  the  endowments. 

The  relatively  generous  provision  for  the  colored  race, 
also,  where  the  great  ignorance  centers,  emphasizes  the  mag- 
nitude of  the  work  going  on.  Their  schools  are,  for  the 
most  part,  separate,  though  coeducation  of  the  races  is  not 
unknown.  Besides  thirty -three  normal  schools,  forty-four 
secondary  schools,  and  eighteen  colleges,  they  have  twenty- 
three  theological  seminaries,  four  schools  in  law,  and  six  in 
medicine.  Of  the  twenty-eight  institutions  for  the  deaf- 
mute  and  blind,  nine  are  for  the  negroes.  These,  with  the 
public  elementary  schools  open  to  them,  represent  a  school 
attendance  of  more  than  a  million  of  the  colored  race. 

School  Expenditures. 


STATES. 

1878. 

1883. 

1886. 

Property 
valuation. 

Alabama 

$358,697 
148,393 
216,540 
134,880 
411,453 

1,130,000 
658,231 

1,593,260 
592,805 

2,406,133 
824,287 
319,030 
794,232 
747,534 
963,865 
687,275 

$522,727 
661,745 
215,161 
172,178 
618,647 

1,248,524 
466,930 

1,686,640 
803,876 

4,288,135 
535,200 
423,273 
955,470 

1,661,476 

1,321,537 
997,431 

$741,244 

866,892 

215,161 

885,800 

711,990 

700,790 

450,030 

1,832,383 

840,776 

4,328,596 

671.116 

425,903 

1,047,223 

2,166,683 

1,453,103 

1,036,874 

$167,124,594 
126,826,394 

Florida 

76,611,469 
329,489,505 

Georgia 

Kentucky 

469,593,225 

Mississippi 

140,000,000 
725,776,269 
202,752,622 
149,973,365 
226,844,184 

Missouri 

North  Carolina 

South  Carolina 

Tennessee 

Texas 

Virginia 

841,735,707 
159,614,752 

West  Virginia 

Total 

$11,386,645  $16,472,050 

$17,875,514 

$8,116,241,016 

New  York 

$10,755,905 
7,995,125 
8,116,519 

$18,284,886 
9,827,549 
4,332,968 

$3,224,682,348 

1,688,676,168 

945,460,000 

Ohio 

Michigan 

EDUCATION  IN  THE  SOUTH.  361 

Another  interesting'  and  suggestive  phase  of  Southern 
education  appears  in  a  comparative  study  of  the  expenditures 
foi^ schools  in  the  various  States.  In  the  decade  just  closed 
the  actual  outlay  in  the  sixteen  States  has  increased  from 
$11,400,000  in  1878  to  about  $20,000,000  in  1888,  or  seventy-five 
per  cent.  Again,  the  assessed  valuation  of  taxable  property 
in  twelve  Southern  States  from  which  returns  are  available 
aggregates  a  little  less  than  that  of  the  State  of  New  York ; 
the  former  nevertheless  spent  on  the  public  schools,  for  the 
year  1885-'86,  $1,058,000  more  than  the  latter.  Mississippi, 
Missouri,  and  West  Virginia  each  spend  more  mills  to  the 
dollar  than  does  New  York,  and  the  last  of  them  three  times 
as  much  as  does  Michigan. 

The  South  is  rapidly  settling  for  itself  the  vexed  problem 

of  education. 

Bibliography. 

*'  Schools  and  Universities  North  and  South,"  "  De  Bow's  Review," 
1855,  p.  545;  "Opposition  to  the  Free-School  System  in  the  South," 
"  American  Social  Science  Journal,"  vol.  ix,  p.  92 ;  "  Sketch  of  Education 
in  South  Carolina,"  R.  Means  Davis,  1882 ;  also,  in  "  Creoles  of  Louisi- 
ana," by  G.  W.  Cable,  see  "  The  Schoolmaster,"  chap,  xxxiii,  p.  256,  for 
a  picture  of  education  before  the  war. 

Upon  the  later  period  consult  "  The  Freedmen  during  the  War,"  Gen- 
eral 0.  0.  Howard,  "Princeton  Review,"  May  and  September,  1886; 
"  Our  Southern  Colleges  and  Schools,"  C.  F.  Smith,  "  Atlantic  Monthly," 
October,  1884,  p.  542;  "Proceedings  of  the  National  Educational  Asso- 
ciation," 1884  (fifty  pages  by  Robert  Bingham,  Rev.  A.  D.  Mayo,  B.  T. 
Washington,  Miss  Clara  Conway,  and  others,  in  a  very  valuable  discus- 
sion) ;  "  Twenty  Years  of  Negro  Education,"  J.  M.  Keating,  "  Popular 
Science  Monthly,"  November,  1885;  "The  Case  of  the  Negro,"  Rev. 
Atticus  G.  Haygood ;  "  The  South,  the  North,  and  the  Nation  keeping 
School,"  Rev.  A,  D.  Mayo ;  "  The  Negro  Question,"  by  G.  W.  Cable, 
"  New  York  Tribune,"  March  4,  1888  ;  "  Education  in  South  Carolina," 
by  Mayor  Courtney.  On  the  question  of  "  Federal  Aid  to  Education," 
see  discussion  by  J.  L.  M.  Curry,  "  Circular  of  Information,  No.  3,"  1884 ; 
H.  R.  Waite,  "Princeton  Review,"  May,  1884,  p.  215 ;  and  D.  H.  Cham- 
berlain, "  Princeton  Review,"  March,  188Y.  Consult  also  the  "Annual 
Reports  of  the  Peabody  and  Slater  Funds,"  and  of  the  "Freedmen'a  Aid 
Society  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church." 


362  CURRENT  EDUCATIONAL  INTERESTS. 

CHAPTER  XXI. 

THE  HIGHER  EDUCATION  OF  WOMEN. 

The  caption  is  here  used  in  its  most  general  significance, 
to  include  the  educational  recognition  accorded  to  girls 
and  women  in  the  United  States.  The  popular  sentiment 
touching  the  question  has  been  an  index  to  the  attitude  of 
the  public  upon  many  others.  Woman's  right  to  the  high- 
est culture  has  shared  the  national  creed — the  privilege  of 
every  individual  to  make  the  most  of  himself.  A  century  of 
her  education  admirably  illustrates  the  evolution  of  an  idea 
among  a  people  already  committed  to  the  doctrine  of  per- 
sonal sovereignty,  predisposed  to  a  wholesome  recognition 
of  individual  rights.  It  is  in  keeping  with  the  character  of 
a  free  people  that  no  class,  and  no  one  of  any  class,  shall  be 
hindered  in  a  rational  participation  in  all  manner  of  good 
and  enjoyment.  In  the  degree  that  the  people  have  become 
less  selfish  and  more  rational,  less  individual  and  more  per- 
sonal, the  privileges  of  superior  training  have  become  less 
exclusive. 

In  the  last  century  the  United  States  stood  beside  other 
nations  touching  the  education  of  girls.  No  European  gov- 
ernment made  anything  like  the  same  provision  for  the  two 
sexes.  The  educational  institutions  of  Prussia  were  first 
co-ordinated  into  a  state  system  in  the  common  law  of  1794. 
There  had  been  schools  of  a  kind  for  girls  for  a  hundred 
years,  but  "  far  less  efficient  than  for  boys."  And  it  is  said 
that  not  till  1804  had  any  one  in  Prussia  courage  to  start  a 
seminary  for  female  teachers.  The  English  schools  came 
even  later,  Girton  College  being  opened  eight  years  after 
Vassar.  It  can  not  seem  strange,  then,  that  American  schools 
have  been  only  recently  opened  to  girls.* 

*  Mayor  Quincy,  in  closing  the  Girls'  High  School,  Boston  (1S22),  after 
a  year's  trial,  said :  "  It  is  just  as  impracticable  to  give  a  classical  education 


THE  HIGHER  EDUCATION  OF  WOMEN.  363 

The  steps  in  tlie  development  of  this  best  sentiment,  from 
indifference  to  interest,  while  not  always  distinctly  apparent, 
are  distingtiishable.  There  came  first  the  girls'  academies, 
many  of  which  remain.  Within  the  same  generation,  this 
secondary  training  had  the  effect  to  greatly  increase  the 
demand  for  the  advanced.  Refused  admission  to  the  estab- 
lished colleges,  women  sought  to  found  others  for  them- 
selves. With  so  rauch  granted,  access  to  institutions  for 
young  men  was  not  long  delayed — not  to  all,  but  to  the 
younger  colleges,  and,  generally,  those  most  in  sympathy 
with  the  spirit  of  the  time.  It  was  to  be  expected  that  the 
older  and  more  conservative  institutions,  the  product  of  a 
long  past,  and  with  established  functions  and  courses,  should 
more  slowly  accept  the  change.  Even  these,  however,  form 
an  interesting  class,  making  concessions  recently,  and  giving 
assurances  of  their  good  intentions.  Further,  to  concede 
the  general  education  of  women  is,  among  a  busy,  practical, 
here-and-now  people,  to  concede  the  use  of  that  education, 
looking  toward  the  general  welfare.  The  professional  train- 
ing of  women  easily  follows  their  admitted  general  culture. 

The  subject  is  resolved,  then,  under  the  several  heads 
enumerated,  viz. : 

1.  Girls'  seminaries  and  academies. 

2.  Colleges  for  women  only. 

3.  Colleges  admitting  women. 

4.  College  "  annexes,"  and  exammations. 

5.  Women  in  the  professions. 

1.  GirW  Seminaries. 

The  story  of  the  rise  of  girls'  schools  in  the  United  States 
is  almost  biographical,  so  interwoven  is  it  with  the  lives  of 
four  women  in  the  fli'st  lialf  of  the  century,  whose  names 
and  services  have  become  historical.     !Mrs.  Emma  Willard, 

to  all  the  girls  of  a  city  whose  parents  would  wish  them  to  be  thus  educated 
at  the  expense  of  the  city,  as  to  give  such  a  one  to  all  the  boys  at  the  city's 
expense  ;  no  funds  of  any  city  could  endure  the  expense  of  it." 


364  CURRENT  EDUCATIONAL  INTERESTS. 

in  Vermont  and  New  York ;  Miss  Catherine  E.  Beecher,  in 
Connecticut  and  Ohio ;  Mary  Lyon,  in  Massachusetts ;  and 
Miss  Grant,  in  New  Hampshire,  did  for  girlhood  and  woman 
what  Horace  Mann  did  for  school  systems — brought  them  to 
consciousness ;  what  Mary  Carpenter  and  Mary  Somerville 
did  in  England. 

After  a  short  service  in  Bradford  Academy  (1804),  Mrs. 
Willard  (tlien  Miss  Emma  Hart)  opened  a  school  for  young 
ladies  at  Middlebury,  Vermont  (1808).  Six  years  later  it  was 
made  a  boarding-school,  and  the  curriculum  extended.  In 
1819  she  removed,  by  invitation,  to  Watei-ford,  New  York, 
and  two  yeara  later  founded  the  celebrated  Troy  Female 
Seminary,*  to  which,  for  seventeen  years,  says  a  recent  Re- 
gents' Report,  "she  brought  unparalleled  success."  While 
here  she  prepared  and  published,  in  an  address,  a  "  Plan  for 
improving  Female  Education,"  which,  being  submitted  to 
the  New  York  Legislature,  secured  to  Waterford  Academy, 
and  a  few  other  proposed  girls'  schools,  a  share,  for  the  first 
time,  in  the  Literature  Fund,  or  State  appropriation  for 
academies.  The  *'  Plan  "  was  a  sensible  and  comprehensive 
discussion  of  the  '*  education  of  girls." 

Her  published  address  and  the  fame  of  her  teaching 
reached  other  States,  and  similar  institutions  were  founded 
in  Georgia,  Kentucky,  Illinois,  Michigan,  etc.,  besides  one 
at  Bogota,  in  South  America,  and  another  at  Athens,  Greece, 
as  a  school  for  the  preparation  of  native  teachers.  She  vis- 
ited Europe  twice,  first  in  1830,  and  again  twenty-three  yeai-s 
later,  to  attend  the  World's  Educational  Conference  at  Lon- 
don— ^both  times  inspecting  schools,  conferring  with  the  most 
eminent  foreign  educators,  and  studying  systems;  received 
in  France  as  the  friend  of  Lafayette,  and  everywhere  wel- 
comed, both  for  her  womanhood  and  her  profession,  t 


*  For  a  very  interesting  sketch  of  Mrs.  Willard's  school  and  lier  educa- 
tional doctrine,  see  Barnard's  "  American  Journal  of  Education,"  vol.  vi, 
pp.  125-168. 

t  Mrs.  Willard  was  a  successful  author,  also,  of  two  histories  of  the 


THE  HIGHER  EDUCATION  OF  WOMEN.  865 

Miss  Beeclier,  bom  in  1800,  and  educated  in  Connecticut, 
opened,  when  twenty-two  years  of  age,  at  Hartford,  in  that 
State,  an  academy  for  yoiuag  ladies,  which  is  said  to  have 
been  for  ten  years  so  successful  as  to  have  attracted  students 
from  every  State  in  the  Union.  She  was  assisted  by  her  sis- 
ter Harriet,  the  pupils  frequently  numbering  more  than  one 
hundred  and  fifty.  In  1833,  settling  in  Cincinnati,  she  again 
opened  a  seminary,  which  failing  health,  after  two  years, 
compelled  her  to  abandon.  She  immediately  gave  her  in- 
fluence to  the  forming  of  public  sentiment  on  the  subject  of 
female  education,  and,  through  a  National  Board  and  Socie- 
ty, to  the  enlargement  of  its  facilities.  For  forty  years  she 
was  a  controlling  spirit  in  the  organization,  which  sent  hun- 
dreds of  teachers  to  Western  schools,  to  the  Territories,  and 
to  the  South.* 

Since  the  active  period  of  these  two  women,  young  ladies' 
seminaries  have  become  both  fashionable  and  numerous. 
There  are  reported  two  hundred  and  seven  institutions  now  of 
about  the  same  grade  as  the  Troy  Seminary,  most  of  which 
have  been  founded  within  a  generation.  Of  these,  Ken- 
tucky, Virginia,  Georgia,  Tennessee,  and  Missouri  have  each 
more  than  a  dozen  ;  Ohio  has  eleven,  and  North  Carolina, 
New  York,  and  Alabama,  ten  each,  these  nine  States  having 
more  than  half  the  whole  number.  In  seven  Southern  States 
ai'e  forty-seven  per  cent  of  them.  About  two  thirds  of  them 
are  authorized  to  confer  degrees,  though  the  course  is  vari- 
ous as  to  scope  and  fullness. 

2.  Colleges  for  Women. 

One  of  the  oldest  of  the  higher  grade  schools  was  the 
somewhat  famous  Wesleyan  Seminary  and  Female  College 

United  States,  a  universal  history,  a  number  of  historical  charts,  and  works 
on  pliysiology,  astronomy,  and  morals. 

*  Miss  Bcecher  was  the  author  of  text-books  on  arithmetic,  mental  and 
moral  science,  a  "  Course  of  Calisthenics  "  for  young  ladies,  and  one  or  two 
books  on  female  education. 
24 


366  CURRENT  EDUCATIONAL  INTERESTS. 

at  Kent's  Hill,  Maine,  founded  in  1821.  In  the  West  was  one 
at  Granville,  Ohio  (1834) ;  hut  as  all  earlier  and  contempo- 
rary services  were  eclipsed  by  the  beneficent  earnestness  of 
Emma  Willard,  so  the  later  founding  of  colleges  was  insig- 
nificant beside  Mary  Lyon  and  Mount  Holyoke. 

Three  years  the  senior  of  Miss  Beecher,  Mary  Lyon  began 
teaching  while  yet  a  girl,  and  from  1821  for  thirteen  years 
was  continuously  in  the  school-room,  ten  years  of  the  time 
with  Miss  Grant  at  Londonderry  and  Ipswich,  New  Hamp- 
shire, teaching  and  studying.  During  these  years  originated 
the  idea  of  a  seminary  "  which  should  be  to  young  women 
what  the  college  is  to  young  men."  After  many  delays  and 
much  opposition,  funds  amounting  to  eight  thousand  dollars 
had  been  collected ;  South  Hadley,  Massachusetts,  was  fixed 
upon  for  the  location,  and  Mount  Holyoke  Female  Seminary 
was  incorporated  February  10, 1836.  It  was  opened  the  fol- 
lowing year,  all  students  being  required  to  live  within  the 
institution  and  to  assist  in  domestic  duties. 

The  course  occupied  three  years,  and  received  graduates 
from  other  seminaries  and  academies  of  New  England.  For 
many  years  it  was  mainly  devoted  to  preparing  teachers  for 
public  and  private  schools,  furnishing  in  the  first  twenty 
years  (1837-'57)  seven  hundred  and  twenty-four  teachers  out 
of  ten  himdred  and  sixty  pupils  leaving  the  institution. 
Beyond  this,  however,  the  school  was  designed  to  give  and 
did  afford  a  solid,  extensive,  and  well-balanced  English  and 
classical  education  to  its  pupUs.  It  provided  three  years  of 
Latin,  two  of  mathematics,  three  each  of  general  history 
and  literature,  three  of  physical  science  and  mental  and 
moral  science.  The  instruction  w^as  meant  for  culture,  not 
mere  accomplishments.  Tlie  whole  work  and  management 
of  the  institution  were  adapted  not  to  girls,  but  to  women  of 
mature  character  and  considerable  attainments. 

The  seminary  has  recently  been  incorporated  as  a  college 
and  authorized  to  confer  degrees. 

Elmira  Female  College,  founded  in  1855,  claims  to  have 
been  "the  first  in  this  country,  and,  so  far  as  known,  the 


THE  HIGHER  EDUCATION  OP  WOMEN.  367 

first  in  the  world  that  offered  to  women  the  same  advan- 
tages and  adopted  the  same  standard  for  graduation  as  col- 
leges and  universities  for  the  other  sex."*  The  course  was 
a  small  advance  over  that  of  Mount  Holyoke.f  It  required 
more  Latin,  added  Greek  and  the  modem  languages,  and 
gave  more  mathematics,  all  included  in  a  four  years'  course, 
and  leading  to  degrees. 

There  was  noticeable  a  growing  spirit  of  approbation  in 
the  public.  Interest  was  here  and  there  manifested  by  the 
investment  of  capital,  by  Legislatures  and  churches,  in  the 
"new  experiment."  The  sentiment  was  spreading  beyond 
the  centers  where  it  originated,  and  schools  were  multiply- 
ing, perhaps  too  rapidly.  Of  the  two  hundred  institutions 
of  this  class  now  in  existence,  more  than  half  had  their  origin 
prior  to  Vassar  College,  which  dates  from  this  period  (1861). 
The  preceding  decade  had  witnessed  a  great  wave  of  interest 
on  this  subject. 

As  the  earlier  standards  were  set  by  Troy,  Hartford,  and 
Mount  Holyoke,  so  the  more  recent  date  from  Vassar,  Smith, 
Wellesley,  and  Bryn  Mawr. 

Of  these,  Vassar  came  first  by  almost  ten  years,  the  act  of 
incorporation  dating  January,  1861.  The  war  coming  on, 
the  work  was  hindered,  though  never  entirely  stopped,  the 
institution  opening  in  1866  with  three  hundred  students. 
The  founder,  Matthew  Vassar,  looking  to  the  "  necessity  of 
providing  such  an  education  for  the  women  of  this  country 
as  would  be  adequate  to  give  them  a  position  of  intellectual 
equality  with  men  in  domestic  and  social  life,"  purjwsed,  he 
says,  to  devote  a  liberal  x)ortion  of  his  estate  "  to  promoting 
their  education  ia  literature,  science,  and  art,"  endowing  an 
institution  so  liberally  as  "  to  secure  to  it  the  elevated  char- 
acter, the  stability,  and  the  permanency  of  our  best  col- 

*  "  New  York  Historical  and  Statistical  Record  "  (1885),  p.  269. 

+  Mount  Holyoke  has  recently  taken  steps  to  expand  the  course  and  con- 
fer degrees.  For  a  fresh  and  reliable  sketch  of  this  school  see  "  Education," 
April,  1888,  p.  477. 


868  CURRENT  EDUCATIONAL  INTERESTS. 

leges."*  The  buildings  are  located  on  a  farm  of  two  hun- 
dred acres,  beautifully  situated,  near  Poughkeepsie  on  the 
Hudson,  the  whole  valued  at  seven  hundred  and  fifty  thou- 
sand dollars.  It  is  supplied  with  an  observatory,  over  which 
from  the  first  Prof.  Maria  Mitchell  has  presided,  a  museum, 
a  library  of  fifteen  thousand  volumes,  a  large  and  well-en- 
dowed art-gallery,  music-rooms,  and  gymnasium. 

The  collegiate  course  covers  four  years,  and  has  nine  de- 
partments, besides  music,  drawing,  and  painting.  Its  faculty 
numbers  twenty-two  professors,  among  whom  have  been 
from  the  foundation  some  whose  names  are  familiarly 
known  to  the  educated  public,  and  give  guarantee  of  the  ex- 
cellence of  the  Vassar  work :  Prof.  Sanborn  Tenney,  the 
nattiralist ;  Prof.  T.  J.  Backus,  now  President  of  Packer 
Collegiate  Institute,  Brooklyn;  Prof.  Cooley,  the  physicist; 
and  Dr.  Maria  Mitchell,t  the  well-known  astronomer  and 
mathematician. 

Wellesley  College,  a  few  miles  out  of  Boston,  is  the  gift, 
so  far  as  grounds  and  buildings  are  concerned,  of  Mr.  Henry 
F.  Durant.  The  farm  consists  of  four  hundred  acres,  with 
groves  and  lakes  and  lawns,  and,  with  improvements,  is 
estimated  to  be  worth  two  million  dollars.  The  first  and 
largest  structure  was  intended  to  accommodate  three  hun- 
dred students.  For  some  years  the  average  attendance  has 
been  twice  that.  To  provide  for  this  increase,  cottages  have 
been  built  in  the  place  of  large  structures,  and  a  system  of 
home-life  management  introduced,  not  the  least  attractive 
of  the  Wellesley  administration. 

The  institution  is  well  supplied  with  apparatus,  labora- 
tories— physical  and  chemical — a  hall  with  a  capacity  of 
seven  hundred,  and  a  library  of  thirty  thousand  volumes, 
admirably  catalogued  after  the  Dewey  system.  The  college 
was  opened  to  students  in  1875  with  a  faculty  of  thirty,  and 
an  extended  course  of  study.    The  first  experience  of  Well- 

*  "  Official  History  of  Vassar  CoUege  "  (1876),  p.  6. 
t  Resigned,  1888. 


THE  HIGHER  EDUCATION  OF  WOMEN.  369 

esley  coincided  with  that  of  Vassar — young  ladies  were 
poorly  fitted  to  do  the  work  offered.  Of  the  three  hundred 
and  fifty  who  entered  Vassar  ten  years  before,  less  than  a 
third  were  well  prepared.  Fitting-classes  were  a  necessity. 
That  in  Wellesley,  however,  was  dropped  in  1881,  and  the 
present  faculty  of  seventy-five  is  engaged  in  collegiate  in- 
struction only. 

The  course  is  very  complete — covers  five  years,  including, 
besides  four  modern  languages,  Greek  and  Latin  (with  post- 
graduate courses),  science  and  history,  embracing  an  extend- 
ed course  in  political  and  social  science  and  constitutional 
history.  The  work  in  botany  requires  three  years,  and  is  en- 
f  oi'ced  and  supplemented  by  a  morphological  laboratory  and 
a  working  libraiy  of  more  than  one  thousand  volumes.  The 
physical  laboratory,  with  its  special  library,  is  quite  as  com- 
plete. Of  mathematics,  the  president,  in  her  report  for  1883, 
said :  "  I  know  of  no  American  college  where  more  intelli- 
gent or  more  advanced  undergraduate  work  has  been  at- 
tempted than  that  accomplished  by  those  seniors  who  have 
been  reading  Poster's  '  Determinants,'  Howison's  '  Ana- 
lytics of  Three  Dimensions,'  Watson's  '  Theoretical  Astron- 
omy,' and  calculating  the  orbit  of  the  new  comet  from  data 
obtained  at  Harvard."* 

Smith  College  was  established  about  the  same  time  as 
Wellesley,  through  the  beneficence  of  Sophia  Smith.  It 
has  an  endowment  of  $400,000,  an  art-gallery  costing  $30,000, 
and  a  full  collegiate  course  of  instruction.  The  professor- 
ships are  equally  divided  between  the  sexes.  Wells  Col- 
lege, of  like  grade,  was  founded  two  years  earlier. 

Bryn-Mawr,  the  most  recent  institution  of  this  class,  was 
opened  in  1885.  It  is  located  near  Philadelphia,  and  was 
founded  by  the  late  Joseph  W.  Taylor,  M.  D.  It  has  a  limit- 
ed number  of  students,  a  productive  endowment  of  nearly  a 
million  dollars,  and  opens  with  great  promise.    No  prepara- 


p.  313 


See  article  "  "Wellesley   College "   in  "  Education,"  January,  1887, 

3. 


370  CURRENT  EDUCATIONAL  INTERESTS. 

tory  class  is  sustained.  For  vindergraduates,  the  "group 
system"*  of  studies  is  employed.  Graduate  study  is  pro- 
vided for  and  encouraged,  the  institution  conferring  no  hon- 
orary degrees,  but  offering  annual  fellowships  in  history, 
biology,  Greek,  and  mathematics.  The  gymnasium  is  pro- 
nounced by  Dr.  Sargent  the  largest  and  most  complete  for 
women  in  the  United  States. 

3.  Coeducation  of  the  Sexes  in  College. 

Whatever  later  means  may  accomplish  for  woman's  edu- 
cation, the  first  schools  and  semiaaries,  with  all  their  fre- 
quent show  and  little  careful  study,  with  much  of  accom- 
plishment and  little  of  discipline,  fitted  the  general  mind 
and  the  feminine  mind  for  something  better. 

The  something  better  came,  not  all  at  once,  nor  without 
opposition,  nor  equally  throughout  the  land,  but  occasion- 
ally, with  varying  success,  at  Middlebury  and  Hartford ;  in 
Maine,  Ohio,  and  Michigan;  in  Vassar  and  Wellesley;  an 
occasional  success  compelling  confidence;  sometimes  fail- 
ing; always  working  with  limited  means,  but  with  every 
favorable  experiment  answering  questions  of  health,  capaci- 
ty, and  demand.  With  these  settled  or  settling,  the  next 
question  was  that  of  coeducation.  Is  its  intellectual  com- 
petition safe  for  the  girl  ?  Morally,  is  it  wise  ?  Physically 
is  it  prudent  ? 

From  Oberlin  came  an  early  answer.  The  institution  was 
opened  as  the  Collegiate  Institute  (1833) .  Both  sexes  have  been 
admitted  from  the  first.  After  seventeen  years  the  school 
was  incorporated  as  Oberlin  College,  under  the  presidency 
of  Rev.  Charles  G.  Finney.  From  the  start  it  has  been  an 
ultra-radical — since  1835  no  distinction  being  made  either  as 
to  sex  or  race.  In  addition  to  the  preparatory  department, 
which  has  always  been  large,  are  theological,  classical,  philo- 
sophical, and  literary  departments,  and  a  "  ladies'  course. " 

*  The  name  originated  with  Miss  Thomas,  the  dean  of  the  institution, 
though  now  in  cooomou  use. 


THE  HIGHER  EDUCATION  OF  WOMEN. 


371 


This  last  difPers  from  others  in  that  it  omits  all  the  Greek, 
most  of  the  Latin,  and,  in  mathematics  the  calculus,  adding 
French  and  drawing.  It  leads  to  no  degree,  but  is  followed 
by  a  certified  diploma.  Since  1837  women,  upon  applica- 
tion, have  been  admitted  to  the  regular  academic  courses  as 
candidates  for  a  degree.  The  present  attendance  is  from 
twelve  hundred  to  fourteen  hundred,  fiity-five  per  cent  of 
whom  are  women. 

The  table,  indicating  the  selection  of  work  by  the  two 
sexes,  is  taken  from  the  official  report  of  the  institution  for 
1886-'87: 


COUKSES. 


Classical 

Philosophical 

Literary 

Music 


5.  Art. 


Men. 


160 
2 


85 


Women. 


50 

22 

157 

889 

68 


Next  to  Oberlin  as  a  pioneer  in  coeducation,  though  two 
decades  later,  was  Antioch,  at  Yellow  Springs,  Ohio.  The 
institution  was  opened  (1853)  under  Horace  Mann,  one  of 
whose  aims  was  to  make  its  advantages,  whatever  they  were, 
equally  open  to  both  sexes.  About  one  third  of  the  attend- 
ance since  its  establishment  has  been  of  young  women,  usu- 
ally mature  and  efficient.  It  is  not  too  much  to  say  that  no 
one  has  seriously  questioned  coeducation  at  Yellow  Springs. 
The  conditions  may  have  been  different,  the  circumstances 
more  favorable  than  thoSe  found  elsewhere,  but  it  appears 
that  Antioch,  whether  from  the  point  of  view  of  intellectual 
capacity,  or  physical  endurance,  or  moral  purity,  affirms 
the  wisdom  of  the  experiment  in  coeducation.  So  entirely 
satisfactory  and  without  criticism  have  been  the  moral  in- 
fluences, that  a  prominent  literary  man*  was  led  to  say, 
some  years  since,  that  "  young  men  were  first  called  gentle- 


*  Moncure  D.  Conway. 


3T2  CURRENT  EDUCATIONAL  INTERESTS. 

men  at  Antiocb."    The  present  faculty  consists  of  sixteen, 
five  of  whom  are  women. 

In  1846  Earlham  College.  Indiana,  a  Friends'  school,  ad- 
mitted both  sexes,  and  the  Indiana  State  University  in  1867. 
The  next  year  women  were  admitted  to  Boston  University, 
and  two  years  later  to  Swarthmore  College  and  the  Univer- 
sity of  Missouri.  They  were  formally  admitted  to  Michigan 
University  in  1870,  and  to  Cornell  in  1874.  In  the  last  quar- 
ter of  a  century,  even,  it  has  been  the  rule  rather  than  the  ex- 
ception to  grant  them  full  privileges  in  the  newly  established, 
institutions.  Most  State  endowments  are  coeducational.  Of 
three  hundred  and  forty-five  colleges  and  universities  re- 
porting to  the  National  Bureau  of  Education,  and  exclusive 
of  those  for  women  alone,  two  hundred  and  four  are  coedu- 
cational. Thirty-eight  of  the  forty-eight  schools  of  science 
endowed  with  the  national  land  grant  are  coeducational,  as 
axe  eleven  of  the  independent  schools  of  the  same  class. 

4,  Examinations  and  Annexes. 

Contemporary  with  the  founding  of  Smith  and  Welles- 
ley,  an  organization  was  formed  in  Boston  (1872)  whose  aim 
was  to  aid  in  the  more  liberal  and  thorough  education  of 
woman  in  the  higher  branches.  Arrangements  were  made 
with  the  Harvard  authorities  to  hold  examinations  for 
women  similar  to  those,  and  under  the  same  conditions,  ac- 
corded them  by  the  Edinburgh,  Oxford,  and  Cambridge 
Universities.  These  were  first  held  (1874)  in  Cambridge, 
Massachusetts,  though  similar  ones  are  now  offered  annu- 
ally at  New  York,  Philadelphia,  and  Cincinnati,  also  by  the 
Harvai*d  authorities,  in  all  respects  equivalent  to  and  on  the 
same  conditions  as  the  regular  examination  of  men  for  ad- 
mission to  university  classes. 

After  five  years'  experience  it  was  proposed  to  provide 
for  instruction  as  well  as  examination,  the  new  organization 
being  incorporated  as  the  "Society  for  the  Collegiate  In- 
struction of  Women  by  Professors  and  other  Instructors  of 
Harvard  College."    The  former  has  recently  dissolved,  the 


THE  HIGHER  EDUCATION  OF  WOMEN.  373 

functions  being  assumed  and  the  duties  performed  by  the 
later  organization.  A  dozen  Harvard  professors  are  mera- 
bers  of  the  corporation,  of  which  Mrs.  Elizabeth  Agassiz  is 
president.  The  "  Annex  "  bears  no  oiRcial  relation  to  Har- 
vard ;  the  names  of  its  graduates  do  not  appear  in  the  college 
catalogue.  Instruction  is  given  by  Harvard  professors  who 
have  taken  a  personal  interest  in  the  matter,  and  ai*e  under 
contract  with  the  "Society."  Fifty  members  of  the  uni- 
versity faculty  are  on  the  "  Annex  "  staff,  and  offer  eighty- 
one  courses,  as  follows:  Hebrew  (two),  Sanskrit  (two),  Ital- 
ian (two),  astronomy  (two),  philosophy,  political  economy, 
music,  physics,  and  chemistry  (three  each),  fine  arts  (four), 
German  (five),  Greek,  French,  mathematics,  and  natural  his- 
tory (six  each),  Latin  (seven),  English  (eight),  and  history 
(ten). 

The  first  year  twenty-seven  women  were  admitted,  and 
twenty-four  courses  taken ;  most  of  the  students  were  ma- 
ture ;  many  have  been  teachers.  The  second  year  the 
courses  were  doubled,  and  the  attendance  increased,  there 
being  one  hundred  students  now;  the  average  for  nine  years 
has  been  above  fifty.  In  1883-84  the  students  were  drawn 
from  twelve  States,  seven  outside  of  New  England.  The 
Harvard  Annex  has  been  called  the  "American  Girton," 
and  is  said  by  Prof.  Goodwin  to  offer  "better  advantages 
to  women  than  any  institution  [in  this  country]  offered 
young  men  in  1865."  Tuition  is  two  hundred  dollars  a 
year.  The  society  owns  its  building,  and  has  one  hundred 
thousand  dollars'  endowment. 

Next  to  the  Harvard  examination  for  women,  both  in 
time  and  in  the  dignity  of  the  undertaking,  is  that  of  Colum- 
bia College.  After  an  entrance  examination,  a  course  of 
study  (without  instruction)  is  offered,  embracing  the  follow- 
ing nine  groups : 

1.  The  English  language  and  literature. 

2.  Modem  languages  and  foreign  literature. 

3.  The  Latin  language  and  literature. 


374  CURRENT  EDUCATIONAL  INTEREST& 

4.  The  Greek  language  and  literature, 

5.  History  and  political  science. 

6.  Moral  and  intellectual  philosophy. 

7.  Mathematics. 

8.  Physics,  chemistry,  and  hygiene. 

9.  Natural  history,  geology,  paleontology,  botany,  and 
zoology. 

The  course  covers  four  years,  and  is  prescribed  for  the 
first  two ;  in  the  Harvard  Annex  the  instruction  o£Pered  is 
altogether  elective.  Arrangements  have  been  recently  shap- 
ing in  Columbia  to  offer  instruction  also,  as  jn  Harvard. 

5.  Association  of  Collegiate  Alumnoe. 

Seven  years  ago  (1882)  there  was  formed  in  Boston  an 
"Association  of  Collegiate  Alumnae,"  representing  Vassar, 
Wellesley,  Smith,  Oberlin,  Wisconsin,  and  Boston  Univer- 
sities. Within  one  year  it  enrolled  two  hundred  and  sixty- 
four  members,  admitting  graduates,  also,  from  Cornell, 
Michigan,  Massachusetts  Institute  of  Technology,  Wesleyan 
University,  Syracuse,  Kansas,  and  Northwestern.  The  object 
is  said  to  be  "  to  unite  alumnae  of  different  institutions  for 
practical  educational  work."  It  offers  advantages  for  home 
and  advanced  study,  and  covers  a  wide  range  of  investiga- 
tion. The  present  membership  is  about  five  hundred,  rep- 
resenting fifteen  institutions  in  nearly  as  many  States. 
Branch  organizations  have  been  formed  in  Washington, 
Chicago,  New  York,  San  Francisco,  Philadelphia,  Pough- 
keepsie,  and  Cleveland,  and  perhaps  one  or  two  other  places. 
Members  have  been  doing  more  or  less  special  and  graduate 
work  in  political  and  sanitary  science,  in  a  study  of  the 
"  Occupations  of  Women,"  "  Health  Statistics,"  and  "  Local 
Histories."  There  has  been  recently  organized,  also,  by  the 
society  a  "Bureau  of  Collegiate  Information,"  whose  ob- 
ject is  "to  collect  trustworthy  facts  and  statistics  concern- 
ing the  histoiy  of  the  movement  for  the  collegiate  educa- 
tion of  women." 


THE  UIGHER  EDUCATION  OF  WOMEN.  375 

6.  The  Professional  Education  of  Women. 

A.    THEOLOGICAL. 

Of  the  departments  for  special  training'  of  women,  that 
of  medicine  is  best  established,  and  of  the  ministry  least. 
Yet  among  Friends,  for  more  than  two  centuries,  women 
have  performed  ministerial  f mictions,  as  among  Moravians 
also,  there  being  one  instance  at  least  of  a  woman  hold- 
ing regularly  and  discharging  the  duties  of  a  bishopric. 
The  like  may  be  said  in  general  of  women  among  Univer- 
salists  and  Unitarians,  who  have  ordained  them  preachers 
and  pastors,  as  have  the  Protestant  Methodist  and  Baptist 
Churches.  Mrs.  Antoinette  Brown  Blackwell,  a  graduate 
of  Oberlin  in  1847,  finished  the  theological  course  also  in 
the  same  institution  three  years  afterward.  At  first  re- 
fused a  license  to  preach,  she  was  subsequently  ordained 
pastor  of  a  church  in  New  York.  Rev.  Olympia  Brown, 
Rev.  Phebe  Hanaford,  and  others  followed  both  in  the 
seminary  and  in  the  pulpit.  In  1880  there  were  in  the 
United  States  one  htmdred  and  sixty-five  pulpits  regtdar- 
ly  occupied  by  women,  most  of  whom  had  taken  more  or 
less  of  theological  training  in  the  schools  of  their  respective 
churches. 

Boston  University,  Northwestern  University,  Chicago, 
and  St.  Lawrence  University,  New  York,  have  been  es- 
pecially forward  in  extending  the  privileges  of  their  di- 
vinity courses  to  women. 

B.    MEDICAL. 

To  the  Drs.  Blackwell,  Elizabeth  and  Emily,  sisters,  is 
due  more  than  to  any  other  single  agency  the  early  though 
slow  recognition  accorded  to  women  by  the  medical  institu- 
tions of  the  country.  In  the  year  1847,  the  former  and 
elder  of  the  two,  having  read  in  Charleston  and  Philadel- 
phia, apphed  for  admission  to  the  medical  schools  of  the 
latter  and  afterward  of  New  York  and  Boston,  being  uni- 
formly refused.     She  was  finally  admitted  to  the  Medical 


376  CURRENT  EDUCATIONAL  INTERESTS. 

School  of  Geneva,  New  York,  by  vote  of  the  students.  She 
graduated  in  1849,  and,  upon  going  abroad,  studied  in 
Paris  and  London,  practiced  successfully  in  foreign  hos- 
pitals, and  returned  in  1854  to  the  United  States.  In  New 
York  she  was  instrumental  in  establishing  the  "  Infibrmary 
for  Women  and  Children,"  to  which  was  attached  thirteen 
years  afterward  a  medical  college. 

During  the  studies  of  Miss  Blackwell  in  Geneva  Col- 
lege, there  had  been  organized  in  Boston  a  "  Female  Med- 
ical Education  Association,"  which  led  (1848)  to  the  es- 
tablishment of  the  New  England  Female  Medical  College. 
In  1874  it  was  merged  in  the  Boston  University.  The 
Woman's  Medical  College  of  Pennsylvania,  founded  in 
1850  and  graduating  its  first  class  the  next  year,  has  now 
a  faculty  consisting  of  both  men  and  women  of  high  so- 
cial and  professional  standing  and  scientific  attainments, 
buildings  and  apparatus,  lecture-rooms,  and  laboratories  of 
modem  completeness  and  design.  The  University  of 
Michigan  organized  a  medical  department  about  1850,  and 
twenty  years  later  admitted  women  to  it,  as  to  all  other 
departments,  on  equal  terms  with  men.  In  the  same  year 
also  was  opened  the  "Woman's  Hospital  Medical  Col- 
lege," Chicago.  In  twenty  years  from  Miss  Blackwell's 
graduation  at  Geneva,  half  a  dozen  institutions  received 
women  regularly,  and  more  than  five  hundred  graduates 
were  practicing  their  profession.  There  are  now  about  one 
thousand  in  practice,  and  of  one  hundred  and  twenty-six 
medical  schools,  exclusive  of  dental,  pharmaceutical,  and 
veterinary  courses,  thirty-six  admit  both  sexes  on  equal 
terms.  These  schools  represent  eighteen  States  and  the 
District  of  Columbia,  and  such  large  cities,  with  all  their 
hospital  and  clinical  advantages,  as  New  York,  Philadel- 
phia, Boston,  Chicago,  St.  Louis,  Baltimore,  Louisville, 
Cincinnati,  and  Washington.  Besides  these  coeducation 
schools  there  are  six  independent  institutions,  as  shown  in 
the  table,  for  women  only : 


THE  HIGHER  EDUCATION  OF  WOMEN. 


377 


Medical  Colleges  admitting  Women. 


Allopathic. 

University  of  Southern  California, 
Los  Angeles. 

Cooper  Medical  College,  San  Fran- 
cisco, Cal. 

University  of  California,  San  Fran- 
cisco. 

University  of  Colorado,  Boulder. 

Howard  University,  Washington, 
D.  C. 

National  Medical  College,  Washing- 
ton, D.  C. 

Quincy  College  of  Medicine,  Quin- 

cy,  ni. 

Iowa  College  of  Physicians  and  Sur- 
geons, Des  Moines,  la. 

College  of  Physicians  and  Surgeons, 
Keokuk,  la. 

College  of  Physicians  and  Surgeons, 
Boston,  Mass. 

University  of  Michigan,  Ann  Arbor, 
Mich. 

Minnesota  Hospital  College,  Minne- 
apolis, Minn. 

University  of  Nebraska,  Lincoln,Neb. 

Omaha  Medical  College,  Omaha,  Neb. 

Leonard  Medical  School,  Kaleigh, 
N.  C. 

University  of  Woostcr,  Cleveland,  0. 

Columbus  Medical  College,  Colum- 
bus, O. 

Toledo  Medical  College,  Toledo,  O. 

Willamette  University,  Portland, 
Oreg. 

Eclectic. 

California  Medical  College,  Oak- 
land, Cal. 

Georgia  College  of  Eclectic  Medicine 
and  Surgery,  Atlanta,  Ga. 

Bennett  College  of  Eclectic  Medicine 
and  Surgery,  Chicago,  Dl. 


Indiana  Eclectic  Medical  College,  In- 
dianapolis, Ind. 

Iowa  Medical  College,  Des  Moines,  la. 

American  Medical  College,  St.  Louis, 
Mo, 

American  Eclectic  Medical  College, 
Cincinnati,  0. 

Eclectic  Medical  Institute,,  Cincin- 
nati, 0. 

Homoeopathic. 
Hahnemann    Medical    College    and 

Hospital,  Chicago,  111. 
Boston  University,  Boston,  Mass. 
University  of  Michigan,  Ann  Arbor, 

Mich. 
Medical    College    of  Missouri,    St. 

Louis,  Mo. 
Uni-sersityofNebraska,Lincoln,Ncb. 
Pulte  Medical  College,  New  York, 

N.  Y. 
Homceopathio      Hospital      College, 

Cleveland,  0. 

Physio-Medical, 

Physio-MedicalInstitute,Chicago,ni. 
Physio-Medical  College,  Indianapo- 
lis, Ind. 

Independent  Schools  for  Women. 

Woman's  Medical  College,  Chicago, 
HI. 

Woman's  Medical  College,  Balti- 
more, Md. 

Woman's  Medical  College  of  New 
York  Infirmary,  N.  Y. 

Woman's  Medical  College  of  Penn- 
sylvania, Philadelphia,  Pa. 

New  York  Medical  College  and  Hos- 
pital, N.  Y. 

School  of  Pharmacy  for  Women, 
Louisville,  Ky. 


378  CURRENT  EDUCATIONAL  INTERESTa 


C.    LEGAL   EDUCATION. 

The  history  of  the  legal  education  of  woman  is  brief.* 
About  twenty  years  after  Dr.  Blackwell  left  Geneva  Col- 
lege, Washington  University,  St.  Louis,  admitted  a  young 
lady  to  the  department  of  law.  The  next  year  one  was 
admitted  to  the  Iowa  bar,  and  three  others  enrolled  as  stu- 
dents of  the  Law  School  of  Chicago  University.  The  same 
year  from  the  same  institution  Mrs.  Ada  H.  Kepley  was 
given  the  degree  of  Bachelor  of  Laws,  though  she  was  re- 
fused for  two  years  permission  to  practice. 

Women  were  first  admitted  to  the  Iowa  University  Law 
School  in  1872.  Seven  years  later  Miss  Clara  Foltz  received 
judgment  to  compel  the  directors  of  Hastings  College  of  Law, 
in  the  University  of  California,  to  admit  her  as  a  student. 

Now,  after  twenty  years,  though  comparatively  few  use 
the  privilege,  women  are  admitted  to  most  law  schools,  and 
are  practicing  at  the  bar  in  Maine,  Massachusetts,  Connecti- 
cut, Ohio,  Illinois,  Indiana,  Iowa,  Minnesota,  California, 
Oregon,  Michigan,  Missouri,  Wisconsin,  Texas,  District  of 
Columbia,  and  the  Territories  of  Wyoming,  Washington, 
and  Utah.  A  woman  is  Professor  of  Commercial  Law  in 
Rockford,  Illinois,  and  the  principal  legal  newspaper  of 
Chicago  and  the  West  is  edited  by  a  woman.  Tlie  Equity 
Club  of  Michigan  and  the  Woman's  International  Bar  Asso- 
ciation are  organizations  of  women  lawyers,  both  with  a 
considei*able  membership. 

D.    WOMEN   AS  TEACHEBS. 

One  accompaniment  and  consequence  of  the  long  neglect 
of  female  education  was  the  great  preponderance  of  male 
teachers  in  the  schools,  both  public  and  private.  The  eight- 
eenth century  had  its  dame-schools  both  in  England  and 
her  colonies.    Bright  girls  occasionally  taught  in  a  quiet 

*  It  is  a  fact  of  history  that  one  Margaret  Brent,  attorney  to  Lord  Balti- 
more, was  admitted  to  the  Maryland  bar  in  1648. 


THE  HIGHER  EDUCATION  OF  WOMEN.  379 

■way,  and  the  mothers  themselves,  learning  of  pastor  or 
father,  sometimes  instructed  their  own  children.  From  the 
later  schools  of  Mrs.  Willard,  and  especially  from  Mount 
Holyoke,  young  ladies  went  out  to  teach  more  than  sixty 
years  ago.  The  teachers  sent  West  by  Miss  Beecher  were 
principally  well-educated  young  women.  Nevertheless, 
they  were  not  only  few,  as  compared  with  the  great  body 
of  teachers,  but  they  were  indifferently  regarded  among 
patrons  and  school  officers  and  even  among  teachers  them- 
selves. Women  were  not  allowed  to  take  part  in  the  teach- 
ers' gatherings,  though  toward  the  middle  of  the  century  it 
was  granted  that  they  might  submit  communications  to  be 
read  by  their  gentlemen  friends. 

As  late  as  1845  Mr.  Barnard  asserts  that  in  the  entire 
State  of  Khode  Island,  except  Providence  and  the  primary 
departments  of  a  few  large  central  districts,  there  were  prob- 
ably not  more  than  a  dozen  female  teachers  employed.  A 
like  state  of  affairs  existed  throughout  the  newer  West  and 
the  South. 

Yet  there  were  forces  at  work  in  most  sections  to  change 
this  arrangement.  When  the  first  State  Normal  School  was 
opened  at  Lexington,  Massachusetts,  it  was,  as  it  has  re- 
mained, for  women  only.  Of  twenty-nine  students  who  en- 
tered at  Albany  a  few  years  afterward,  sixteen  were  women. 
A  like  proportion  obtained  at  New  Britain,  Connecticut,  in 
1850.  Before  the  middle  of  the  centuiy  the  New  York 
academies  also  began  sending  out  young  women  from  their 
teachers'  classes ;  and  after  twenty  years'  experience  in  Mas- 
sachusetts with  four  normal  schools,  eighty-seven  per  cent 
of  the  students  were  found  to  be  women.  So  rapidly  had 
the  proportion  of  men  decreased  that  it  attracted  the  atten- 
tion of  the  Swedish  visitor,  Siljestrom,  in  1854,  who  com- 
mented upon  it  favorably ;  of  Bishop  Fraser,  ten  years 
later ;  and  of  Francis  Adams,  who  criticised  it  ia  his  recent 
visit  to  this  coimtry  in  1875.  The  impulse  was  a  part  of 
the  general  movement  which  established  normal  schools, 
State  systems,  supervision,  etc.,  in  the  fii'st  half  of  the  cent- 


380 


CURRENT  EDUCATIONAL  INTERESTS. 


ury.    Below  is  presented  a  tabulated  statement  of  the  change 
noted  in  thirteen  typical  States : 

Table  shominff  Per  Cent  of  Female  Teachers  in  TIdrteen  Siaiea. — 
Growth  in  Thirty  Years. 


No. 

STATES. 

1856. 

1876. 

1880. 

1886. 

Increase. 

1 

Vermont  

21 
33 
89 
U 
21 
89 
60 
21 
64 
H 
U 
46 
61 

85 
50 
71 
63 
42 
57 
80 
89 
76 
88 
66 
46 
69 

83 
52 
76 
67 
48 
61 
78 
43 
16 
87 
83 
52 
67 

88 
83 
19 
16 
49 
67 
87 
40 
82 
89 
88 
56 
65 

67 

91 

50 

» 

40 

4 

82 

R 

28 

6 

Illinois 

28 

7 

Kliode  Island 

27 

R 

19 

9 

18 

10 

Massachusetts 

15 

11 

14 

1'? 

Ohio 

10 

13 

Maine 

4 

In  noting  the  increasing  proportion  of  women  teachers 
between  1855  and  1875,  it  should  be  remembered  that  it  in- 
cludes the  war  period,  when  there  was  a  large  withdrawal 
of  male  teachers : 

Table  shoioing  Per  Cent  of  Women  TeacJicrs  in  each  State,  1S85-86. 


No. 

1 

2 

8 

4 

5 

6 

1 

8 

9 
10 
11 
12 
13 
14 
15 
16 
17 
18 
19 


STATE. 


Alabama 

Arkansas .... 

Calilbrnia 

Colorado 

Connecticut.. 
Delaware .... 

Florida 

Georgia 

Illinois 

Indiana 

Iowa 

Kansas 

Kentucky 

Louisiana. ... 

Maine 

Maryland.... 
Massachusetts 

Michigan 

Minnesota ... 


Per  ct. 

No. 

86 

20 

23 

21 

76 

22 

73 

23 

82 

24 

57 

25 

45 

26 

33 

27 

67 

28 

49 

29 

76 

30 

58 

31 

47 

82 

64 

83 

65 

84 

67 

35 

89 

S6 

75 

37 

89 

38 

STATE. 


Mississippi 

Missouri 

Nebraska 

Nevada 

Now  Hampshire, 
New  Jersey . . . . . 

New  York 

North  Carolina. , 

Ohio 

Oregon , 

Pennsylvania , . , 
Khode  Island  . . . 
South  Carolina. 

Tennessee 

Texas , 

Vermont 

Virginia 

West  Virginia, . , 
Wisconsin 


Per  ct. 


45 
40 
75 

77 
88 
79 
81 
40 
56 
83 
62 
87 
46 
32 
81 
88 
50 
84 
79 


THE  HIGHER  EDUCATION  OF  WOMEN.  381 

In  thirteen  States,  it  will  be  seen,  male  teachers  yet  pre- 
dommate;  these  are  all  Southern  States  except  Indiana. 
Yet  even  here  the  gain  in  the  proportion  of  women  teachers 
is  scarcely  less  than  for  the  thirteen  States  shown  in  the 
preceding  table.  Georgia,  Massachusetts,  New  Hampshire, 
and  Vermont  made  no  gain,  and  Arkansas  and  Maine  pre- 
sent the  anomaly  of  employing  constantly  f«wer  women 
teachers  for  the  last  twelve  years. 

In  cities,  especially  the  larger  ones,  the  preponderance  of 
female  teachers  is  most  noticeable.  In  sixty-nine  cities  of 
the  United  States,  employing  more  than  one  hundred  teach- 
ers each,  more  than  ninety-one  per  cent  are  women.  In  but 
twelve  of  them  does  the  proportion  fall  below  ninety  per 
cent,  while  in  seventeen  of  them  it  is  ninety-five  per  cent  or 
over.  A  few  cities  are  typical  of  the  most  radical  policy  of 
employing  women.  Twelve  cities  in  seven  States  reporting 
an  aggregate  of  three  hundred  and  nine  teachers,  and  repre- 
senting a  school  population  of  thirty-three  thousand  five 
hundred,  employ  women  teachers  only. 

7.  School  Suffrage  of  Women. 

As  showing  a  different  relation  of  women  to  education, 
but  promising,  in  its  consequences,  their  school  suffrage  and 
service  on  educational  boards  of  control,  are  deserving  of 
attention. 

Fifteen  States  —  California,  Colorado,  Illinois,  Iowa, 
Louisiana,  Michigan,  Minnesota,  Nebraska,  New  Hamp- 
shire, New  York,  Oregon,  Pennsylvania,  Rhode  Island, 
Vermont,  and  Wisconsin,  and  the  Territories  of  Idaho, 
Montana,  and  Washington — admit  them  to  both  these 
privileges. 

In  Iowa  the  State  Board  of  Examiners,  created  to  en- 
courage training  in  the  science  and  art  of  teaching,  is  com- 
posed of  four  ex-officio  members  and  two  others,  one  of 
whom  must  be  a  woman.  In  Oregon  the  privilege  among 
women  of  voting  upon  school  questions  is  confined  to 
widows.  Twelve  States  extend  their  educational  service  to 
25 


382  CURRENT  EDUCATIONAL  INTERESTS. 

county  sui)ermtendency,  and  six  make  women  eligible  to 
any  educational  office  in  the  State. 

Bibliography. 

"Intellectual  Education  for  Women,"  bj  E.  Sliireff,  1862;  "The  Col- 
lege, the  Market,  and  the  Court,"  by  Caroline  H.  Dall,  1867;  "The  Lib- 
eral Education  of  Women,"  by  J.  Orton,  1873  ;  "  Schools  for  Girls  and 
Colleges  for  Women"  (English),  by  C.  E.  Pascoe,  1879;  "Smith  Col- 
lege,"  Caroline  E.  Uilliard,  "Education,"  September,  1887;  "  Welleslcy 
College,"  Jean  Kincaid,  "Education,"  January,  1887;  "Bryn-Mawr  Col- 
lege," "  Education,"  September,  1886 ;  "  Women  in  Colleges,"  "  Proceed- 
ings of  the  New  York  University  Convocation,"  1883,  p.  417;  "Women 
in  EngUsh  Universities,"  "Yale  Rev ievr,"  July,  1886;  "The  American 
Girl  Graduate,"  T.  W.  Higginson,  "Critic,"  December  4, 1886;  "Women 
of  the  Twentieth  Century,"  F.  K.  Carey,  "Princeton  Review,"  September 
and  November,  1884;  "Progress  of  Coeducation,"  "The  Forum,"  Au- 
gust, 1887,  p.  631 ;  "The  Harvard  Annex,"  G.  C.  Eggleston,  "The  Cent- 
ury Magazine,"  September,  1884;  also  "Education,"  vol.  vi,  p.  568 
"Michigan  School  Report,"  1879,  p.  142,  and  "Education,"  May,  1886 
"Women  as  Professional  Teachers,"  May  Mackintosh,  "Education," 
April  4,  18S7.  Consult,  also,  "Heredity,"  by  W.  K.  Brooks,  chap,  x, 
on  "  Intellectual  Differences  between  Men  and  Women  "  ;  "  Female  Edu- 
cation from  a  Medical  Point  of  View,"  T.  S.  Clouston,  "  Popular  Science 
Monthly,"  December,  1883,  and  January,  1884;  "Higher  Education  of 
Women  "  (adverse),  by  Mrs.  E.  Lynn  Lynton,  "  Popular  Science  Month- 
ly," December,  1886  ;  and  "Advanced  Education  for  Women,"  by  Kate 
Stevens,  "  Forum,"  March,  1889. 


CONCLUSION. 

Whatever  confidence  one  may  feel  in  the  general  sound- 
ness of  the  idea  of  education  here  sought  to  be  sketched,  or 
however  well  satisfied  one  may  be  with  the  work  of  existing 
schools,  from  this  brief  study  of  them  no  conclusion  could 
be  less  warranted  tlian  that  this  New  World  idea  of  educa- 
tion is  altogether  the  best,  or  that  our  school  systems  have 


CONCLUSION.  383 

reached  a  final  form.  With  three  teachers  in  four  having 
no  special  fitness  for  the  work ;  schools  but  six  months  in 
twelve ;  the  average  school  period  less  than  five  years ;  but 
sixty-one  per  cent  of  minors  over  six  years  of  age  in  school ; 
and  two  million  (sixteen  per  cent)  illiterate  voters  in  the 
country,  there  is  abundant  room  for  criticism — ^not,  indeed, 
upon  the  schools  as  such,  but  upon  the  general  public  senti- 
ment which  makes  these  things  possible,  and  even  common. 
The  schools  come  in  for  their  share  of  this  responsibility. 

Along  with  this  deficiency,  and  perhaps  the  occasion  of 
it,  are  certain  unsettled  social  and  educational  questions  that 
are  of  peculiar  interest,  and  may  well  cl^im  the  most  serious 
attention  of  every  one  : 

1.  It  betrays  neither  lack  of  confidence,  nor  want  of  ap- 
preciation of  what  has  been  done,  to  say  that  no  sufficient 
means  has  yet  been  found  to  provide  a  supply  of  qualified 
teachers. 

2.  How  best  to  honor  the  complex  nature  of  the  child, 
and,  while  shaping  the  understanding  mind,  to  bring  up 
youth  with  sound  bodies  and  a  love  for  truth,  is  still  in  the 
stage  of  i^ersonal  opinion. 

3.  There  is  no  general  agreement  among  legislators  or 
educators  as  to  the  relation  which  the  public  schools  should 
sustain  to  industrial  training,  either  manual  or  technical. 

4.  The  supreme  importance  of  infant  and  primary  edu- 
cation is  only  beginning  to  be  appreciated  by  the  commu- 
nity, and  this  only  in  cities. 

5.  Free  public  higher,  and  professional  education,  has 
still  numerous  opponents;  as  does  anything  like  coercive 
legislation  in  the  interests  of  school  attendance. 

6.  Closely  related  to  this  is  the  question  of  extra-school 
training,  which  is  daily  assuming  graver  proportions.  How 
may  the  hundreds  of  thousands  be  reached  who,  too  old  for 
school,  or  prevented  by  industry  and  poverty — the  day-labor- 
er, the  recent  immigrant,  the  street  Arab,  the  orphan,  the 
young  offender — are  practically  illiterate  ?  How  accommo- 
date the  iatelligent  and  willing,  but  half -educated  workman, 


384  CURRENT  EDUCATIONAL  INTERESTS. 

who  seeks  higher  skill  in  his  trade  ?  The  uses  to  which, 
public  libraries,  and  lectures,  and  evening  schools,  and 
university  faculties,  may  be  put  for  this  extra-school  edu- 
cation, have  been  but  recently  tried  outside  the  few  centers 
of  cities  where  first  introduced. 

7.  Finally,  what  constitutes  a  citizenship  education — 
how  to  compass  an  education  with  special  civic  and  ad- 
ministrative aptitudes — is  only  beginning  to  claim  general 
and  systematic  attention,  and  chiefly  of  the  colleges.  That 
the  common  elementary  schools  have  a  definite  citizen-mak- 
ing function  is  by  no  means  generally  accepted. 

Notwithstanding  all  this  indecision,  and  sometimes  dis- 
agreement, and  perhaps  because  of  the  fact,  there  is  a  wide- 
spread public  interest  in  education  in  all  its  phases,  such  as 
has  not  been  before  for  half  a  century.  The  public  educa- 
tion societies  in  large  cities  are  only  conspicuous  exam- 
ples of  an  impulse  that  is  stirring  rural  as  well  as  urban 
communities  alike.  It  means  faith  in  the  common  school 
as  a  civilizing  and  purifying  agency ;  it  means  a  patriotic 
interest  in  home  industry ;  an  unselfish  concern  for  the 
next  generations. 

Much  of  this  general  activity  may  be  ascribed  to  a  com- 
mon familiarity  with  the  systems  of  other  states  and  nations. 
Acquaintance  with  one's  neighbor's  success  is  a  great  quick- 
ener  to  home  enterprise.  A  generation  since,  European 
schools  were  chiefly  known  to  Americans  through  a  half- 
dozen  volumes.  How  great  a  service  these  few  did !  But 
now,  what  with  the  easier  intercourse,  the  frequent  intermi- 
gration,  the  translation  of  foreign  literature,  the  prominence 
given  to  modem-language  study,  and  the  interchange  of 
views  in  international  expositions  and  conferences,  the 
school  systems  of  Europe  are,  in  a  general  way,  more  fa- 
miliar to  many  an  American  teacher  than  are  those  of  his 
own  country. 

This  comparative  study  of  educational  institutions,  very 
elementary  and  very  superficial  it  may  be,  gives  a  kind  of  per- 
spective to  the  nearer  views  of  one's  own  schools — a.  chance 


CONCLUSION.  385 

to  look  at  them  in  their  universal  relations.  This  concern, 
it  has  already  been  suggested,  is  not  monopolized  by  the 
profession ;  but  instances  of  it  may  be  seen  in  every  State, 
and  in  all  sections,  among  business  men,  and  lawyers,  and 
the  clergy,  physicians,  and  laborers.  Common-school  ques- 
tions are  being  studied  by  college  presidents  and  professors, 
as  related  to  their  own  labors ;  by  economists  and  histo- 
rians ;  and  the  outlook  is  hopeful. 

Only  this  comprehensive  study  of  education  in  all  its 
relations  can  save  our  people  from  a  national  tendency  to 
run  to  extremes  and  ride  hobbies.  These  problems  and 
others,  with  which  the  public  is  still  experimenting,  and  in 
whose  presence  wise  men  stand  confounded,  confronted 
the  early  settlers  also,  with  every  subsequent  generation. 
Some  of  them  have  been  settled  before,  but  "  are  constant- 
ly recurring,"  it  has  been  said,  "  because  of  our  ignorance  of 
that  fact." 


INDEX. 


Abbott,  Benjamin,  72. 

Abderrahman  I,  4. 

Academe,  the,  278. 

Academia  Virginiensis  et  Oxonicn- 
818,  32. 

Academic  studies  in  normal  schools, 
136. 

Academies,  endowment  of,  72 ;  in 
England,  71 ;  in  New  England,  72 ; 
in  New  Yorlj,  132,  304 ;  of  science, 
285 :  of  the  Revolutionary  period, 
70. 

Academy  of  Arts  and  Sciences,  286. 

Academy  of  Natural  Science,  286. 

Academy,  the  scientific,  286. 

Acrelius,  Israel,  55. 

Adams,  C.  K.,  m  Michigan  Univer- 
sity, 177 ;  "  Washington  and  Iligla- 
er  "Education,"  149. 

Adams,  Francis,  62,  64, 123. 

Adams,  H.  B.,  6,  36,  43, 177,  183. 

Adler,  Prof.  Felix,  Twenty -second 
Street  (N.  Y.)  Kindergarten,  336.  • 

Agassiz  Association,  284. 

Agassiz,  Mrs.  Elizabeth,  President 
of  the  Society  for  the  Collegiate 
Instruction  ot  Women,  373. 

Agassiz,  Prof.  Louis,  274. 

Agricultural  colleges,  233;  curricu- 
lum, 234;  education,  227,  232; 
land  grant,  233;  museum,  273, 
schools,  234. 

Alaska,  education  in,  262. 

Albany  (N.  Y.)  Normal  School,  132. 

Alcott,  A.  Bronson,  151,  278. 

Alcott,  William  A.,  151. 

Alfred  the  Great,  4. 

American  Association  for  the  Ad- 
vancement of  Science,  286  ;  Asy- 
lum for  Deaf-Mutes,  245;  Ento- 
mological   Society,    289 ;    Ethno- 


logical Society,  256 ;  Geographical 
Society,  286 ;  Historical  Associa- 
tion, 291 ;  idea  of  free  schools,  1, 
8 ;  institute  of  Instruction,  122 ; 
Journal  of  Education,  6,  51,  60, 
150,  152 ;  Journal  of  Psychology, 
153 ;  Journal  of  Science,  292 ;  Mis- 
sionary Association,  353 ;  Museum 
of  Natural  History,  274;  Philo- 
sophical Society,  286,  294. 

American  history,  instruction  in, 
178. 

American  Preceptor,  the,  1 67. 

Andover  Normal  Scnool,  129. 

Annex,  Harvard,  373. 

Ante-war  period  in  the  South,  343. 

Antioch  College,  371. 

Apprenticeship  schools,  231. 

Architecture,  education  in,  227. 

Arithmetic  texts,  67. 

Army  Medical  Museum,  273. 

Art  and  design,  schools  of,  229. 

Articulation  in  deaf-mute  instruc- 
tion, 245. 

Artillery  school  at  Fortress  Monroe, 
239. 

Art,  museums  of,  272 ;  normal 
schools,  229. 

Associates  of  Cooper  Union,  290. 

Associations,  classification  of,  118; 
educational,  117  ;  State,  121. 

Astor  Library,  298. 

Astronomy,  158,  164. 

Athenian  education,  7,  326. 

Atterbury  quoted,  294. 

Authority,  withdrawal  of,  186. 

Awakening,  educational,  182. 

Bache,  Prof.  A.  D.,  Superintendent 
of  Coast  Survey,  317  ;  visit  to 
Europe,  129, 149. 


388 


INDEX. 


Baker,  Miss  Alice,  2T9. 

Bancroft,  George,  7  ;  editor  of  New 
York  colonial  MSS.,  11,  241,  292  ; 
History  of  the  United  States,  177, 
198. 

Baptist  Western  Educational  Asso- 
ciation, 119. 

Barbarism,  New  Ensjland  idea  of,  17. 

Bar,  fitting  for  the,  213. 

Barnard,  llenry,  6  :  in  Connecticut, 
104  •  in  Rhode  Island,  106 ;  Prin- 
cipal of  Connecticut  Normal 
School,  132 ;  American  Journal  of 
Education,  viii,  150,  152;  Com- 
missioner of  Education.  309. 

Barre  (Mass.)  Normal  Scliool,  131. 

Bartram,  John,  167. 

Bates,  Joshua,  gift  to  Boston  Libra- 
ry, 298. 

Battle  Creek  School,  Md.,  59. 

Beecher,  Miss  C.  E.,  365. 

Beers,  Samuel,  106. 

Bell,  Andrew,  127. 

Benefactions,  educational,  206 ;  of 
George  Peabody,  854 ;  to  Harvard, 
29 ;  to  William  and  Mary,  85 ;  to 
Yale,  41 ;  to  the  South,  353. 

Berkeley,  Bishop  14,  41 ;  donation 
to  Newport  Liorary,  279  ;  founds 
the  New  Haven  Club,  286. 

Berkeley,  Governor  of  Virginia,  59. 

Bermuda  Islands,  school  on,  14. 

Bible  study  in  elementary  schools, 
66  ;  in  Harvard.  25. 

Bibliography  ot  early  colonial 
schools.  19 ;  colonial  colleges,  42 ; 
colonial  school  systems,  60 ;  col- 
lege curricula,  184;  compulsory 
education,  330 ;  education  for 
women,  382 ;  education  in  the 
South,  361 ;  education  of  depend- 
ent clasfMH,  263  ;  elective  courses, 
208 ;  elementary  and  secondary 
instruction,  346  ;  learned  societies 
and  libraries,  307 ;  national  edu- 
cation, 325;  normal  schools  and 
institutes,  141 ;  professional  edu- 
cation, 221 ;  Revolutionary  period, 
78 ;  school  funds,  93 ;  school  su- 
pervision, 116  ;  supplementary 
agencies,  284 ;  tcclinological  train- 
ing, 242 ;  university  pedagogy  and 
ediicational  literature,  157. 

Bickmore,  Dr.,  274. 

Bicknell,  T.  W.,  94. 

Billings,  Dr.,  301. 


Bingham,  Caleb,  The  American  Pre- 
ceptor, 67 ;  The  Columbian  Ora- 
tor, 67 ;  girls'  school,  Boston,  69 ; 
Young  Ladies  Accidence,  68. 

Biological  studies,  166. 

Bishop,  Nathan,  superintendent  of 
Boston  schools,  110 :  superintend- 
ent of  Providence  schools,  110. 

Blackboard  used  by  Christopher 
Dock,  56. 

Blair,  Rev.  James,  33. 

Blackstone  on  deaf-mutes  and  blind, 
244;  sale  of  "Commentaries"  la 
America,  214. 

Blackwell,  Dr.  Elizabeth,  375. 

Blanqui,  J.  A,,  quoted,  275. 

Blind,  education  of  the,  246 ;  indus- 
trial training  of  the,  247  ;  methods 
of  instruction,  248 :  occupations  of 
the,  248 ;  work  at  tne  New  Orleans 
Exposition,  247. 

Blow,  Susan  E.,  334. 

Blue  Laws  of  Connecticut,  49. 

"  Boarding  'round,"  64. 

Board  of  Education,  Connecticut, 
105 ;  functions  of,  108 ;  Massachu- 
setts, 104. 

Bocltc,  MLs3  (Kraus),  334. 

Bopp's  Indo-Germanic  studies,  173. 

Boston  Academy  of  Science,  288. 

Boston  evening  schools,  270 ;  Latin 
School,  9,  i4,  338 ;  lectures  in 
pedagogy,  146;  primary  schools, 
origin  of,  332;  Public  Library, 
297;  school  superintendent,  110; 
training-school,  140. 

Botanical  science,  167 ;  in  Harvard, 

.    25, 167. 

Botany,  museum  of,  273. 

Boucher,  characterization  of  early 
Maryland  teachers,  64. 

Bowdoin  teachers'  class,  130. 

Bowen,  Francis,  179. 

Boyle  fund  for  educating  Indians, 
254. 

Bridgewater  (Mass.)  Normal  School, 
131. 

Bridgman.  Laura,  249. 

Broadheacl's  Documentary  History 
ofNew  York,5,  292. 

Brooklyn  school-tax,  10. 

Brooks,  Rev.  Charles,  129. 

Brooks,  Rev.  PhillipSj  9. 

Brothers  of  the  Cnnslion  Schools, 
268. 

Brown,  Goold,  122. 


INDEX. 


389 


Browmng  clubs  in  the  United  States, 
278, 

Browning,  Oscar,  150. 

Brown  University,  94. 

Bryant  and  Stratton  Business  Col- 
leges, 266. 

Bryn  Mawr  College,  309  ;  group  sys- 
tem of,  200,  370. 

Butfalo,  school  supervision,  109. 

Bureau,  Indian  scnools,  258  ;  of  Ag- 
riculture, 323  ;  of  Education,  308  ; 
museum,  311  ;  library,  310  ;  of 
collegiate  information,  374;  pub- 
lications, 310. 

Burlington  (N.  J.)  school-funds,  56. 

Business  scnools,  265. 

Cabell  and  Jefferson,  190. 

Cadets  in  the  United  States  Military 
Academy,  237. 

California,  exploration  of,  319;  his- 
tory of  education  in,  150 ;  Lick 
Observatory,  1G6  ;  naval  training- 
ship,  242. 

Calvinj  John,  6,  7. 

Calvinism  in  New  England,  28. 

Cambridge,  England,  8. 

Cambridge  ^Mass.)  early  school,  16. 

Carlisle  Indian  School,  261. 

Carol  us,  Alexander,  11. 

Carter,  Kev.  James  G.,  130. 

Catalogue,  of  students,  -alphabetic, 
76 ;  of  Philadelphia  Tedagogicai 
Library,  151. 

Catalogues,  library,  306. 

Catechism,  Mather's,  52. 

Catholic,  estimate  of  public  schools, 
98 ;  Indian  missions,  253 ;  parish 
schools,  267 ;  university,  268. 

Census,  schoolj  154. 

Centralization  in  education,  44. 

Centralizing  tendencies,  79,  83. 

Chaldee  in  Harvard,  28. 

Chandler  Scientific  School,  226. 

Charity  schools  in  I'ennsylvania, 
55-63 ;  in  England,  62. 

Charlemt^ne,  3,  4. 

Charles  X,  4. 

Charter,  Harvard,  27  ;  Peun  Colony, 
54;  William  and  Mary,  34;  Yale, 
89 

Chase,  Dr.  P.  E.,  188. 

Chauncy,  President  of  Harvard,  26. 

Chautauqua,  281 ;  Teachers'  Beading 
Union,  284 ;  University,  281. 

Chauvenct,  Prof.,  241. 


Cheever,  Ezekiel,  18,  51,  68. 

Chemistry,  io  college,  158,  162 ;  a 
branch  of  medicine,  162. 

Chicago  High-School,  339  ;  Kinder- 
garten, 335,  336;  library,  298; 
school  reports,  155 ;  supervision, 
111,  112. 

Child  labor,  legislation  on,  329. 

Children's  reading  circles,'284. 

Chipman's  "American  Moralist,"  07. 

Christian  :^rothers,  126,  268. 

Church,  lotteries,  88;  schools,  266. 

Cincinnati  school  reports,  155. 

Circulating  libraries,  294. 

Citizenship  education,  384. 

City,  reports,  155;  school  histories, 
150;  supervision,  119-123;  teach- 
ers' institutes,  140  ;  training- 
schools,  140. 

Civilization  fund,  Indian,  255. 

Civil  Liberty  and  Self-Government, 
175. 

Clark  Institution  for  the  Education 
ofDeaf-Mutes,  246. 

Clark  University,  Worcester,  206. 

Class  distinctions  at  Harvard,  195. 

Cleveland,  Ohio,  supervision  in, 
110. 

Clubs  and  circles,  275. 

Coast  Survey,  316. 

Coeducation  of  races,  262,  360,  370 ; 
of  sexes,  69,  131,  339,  370. 

Cokesbury  College,  267. 

Colburn,  Warren,  122. 

Collections,  art,  272 ;  scientific,  274. 
431 ;  of  Massachusetts  liistorical 
Society,  291. 

College-bred  colonists,  20. 

College  Corner  Club,  278. 

College,  curricula,  158 ;  histories, 
150 ;  journals,  153  ;  libraries,  304 ; 
of  professional  teachers,  121 ;  or- 
ganization, 202 ;  repoi-ts,  157  ; 
training  in  pedagogy,  144. 

Collegiate  Alumnae,  Society  of,  374. 

Colleges,  colonial,  20 ;  for  women, 
365  ;  of  Revolutionary  period,  73 ; 
table  of,  77  ;  recent,  158 ;  Southern, 
359 ;  Western,  195. 

College  Society  of  Yale,  119. 

Colonial  school  systems,  43;  libra- 
ries, 293 ;  period,  9. 

Colonists,  early  English,  7. 

Colorado  Agricultural  College,  235. 

Colored  schools  in  the  South,  356~ 
860. 


390 


INDEX. 


Columbia  College,  53,  73 ;  electives, 
197 ;  examinations  for  women, 
873 ;  French  in,  171 ;  graduate 
courses,  201 ;  history  in,  175 ;  le- 
gal studies  in,  215,  216  ;  Lieber  in, 
176  ;  School  of  Library  Economy, 
306 ;  School  of  Political  Science, 
180. 

Columbian  Orator,  the,  67. 

Common-school  controversy,  154. 

Common  -  school  system,  principles 
of,  43. 

Commissioner  of  Education,  United 
States,  vii,  309. 

Comparative  Zoology,  Museum  of, 
274. 

Compulsory  education,  7,  326. 

Concord  School  of  Philosophy,  278. 

Concord  Teachers'  School,  Hall,  123. 

Congregationalism,  28  ;  in  South 
Carolma,  59 ;  schools  of,  267. 

Congress,  land  grants  of,  88 ;  Library 
of,  304;  Morrill  Act  of  1862,  233 ; 
act  of  1841,  90. 

Connecticut  Asylum  for  Deaf-Mutes, 
245;  Code  of  1650,  47,  327;  tee 
bills,  64;  first  schools,  18;  normal 
school^  132 ;  school-fund,  85 ;  su- 
pervision in,  104 ;  union  of  colo- 
nies of,  48. 

Contract  Indian  schools,  261. 

Controversial  spirit  of  New  England, 
29,  30. 

Cooper,  Peter,  271. 

Cooper  Union,  271,  290, 

Copeland,  Rev.  Patrick,  13,  31. 

Corcoran  Art  Gallery,  273. 

Corlett  and  Cbeever,  51. 

Cornell  University,  elective  courses 
in,  196;  graduate  courses,  196. 
202 ;  organization  of,  196  ;  School 
of  Political  Science,  181 ;  science 
and  art  of  teaching  in,  146. 

Correspondence  University,  281. 

Council  of  education,  123. 

County  superintendent,  election  of, 
115;  duties  of,  116. 

County  supervision,  113-115. 

Courses  of  study,  in  colonial  schools, 
52 ;  early  colleges,  24,  35, 41 ;  iiigh- 
school,  843;  law-school,  216;  medi- 
cal school,  220;  normal  school, 
136 ;  pedagc^v,  147;  recent  colleges, 
158;  technological  schools,  227; 
theological  schoolSj  211. 

Current  educational  interests,  326. 


Curriculum  of  agricultural  schools, 
234 ;  Columbia  College,  74 ;  Cooper 
Union,  272 ;  Harvard  Annex,  373  ; 
N  aval  Academy.  241 ;  night-schools, 
270 ;  reform  schools,  252 :  schools 
of  science,  228;  United  States 
Military  Academy,  238;  University 
of  Virginia,  189. 

Cutler,  Dr.  Manasseh,  203. 

Cutler,  Timothy,  rector  of  Yale,  42. 

Cuttings  Museum,  273. 

Cyclopaedia  of  Education,  150. 

DaboU's  Arithmetic,  67. 

Dana,  James  D.,  163. 

Dana,  James  F.,  161, 163. 

Darlington,  Williain,  estimate  of 
early  teachers,  64. 

Dartmouth  College  case,  75. 

Dartmouth  College,  origin  of,  75, 
254 ;  physics  in,  160. 

Davenport,  John,  8,  37,  40. 

Davenport  (Iowa)  Training- School, 
141. 

Dawson,  N.  H.  E.,  United  States 
Commissioner  of  Education,  309. 

Deaf-Mute  College,  246. 

Deaf-mute  education,  244;  schools, 
245. 

Deaf-mutes  at  New  Orleans  Exposi- 
tion. 246;  legal  status  of,  244; 
public  education,  245. 

De  Bow,  J.  B.,  60,  848,  849. 

Decentralization,  98. 

Dedham  High-School  case,  341.     * 

DcCTces,  collegiat€j  25,  199,  367. 

Delaware,  convention  of  1843,  849 ; 
State  control  of,  107 ;  prior  to  the 
Revolution,  57,  58;  school-fund, 
86. 

Democratic  tendencies  of  Revolu- 
tionary period,  76. 

Denraan,  J.  F.,  124. 

Denominational  agencies  in  educa- 
tion, 266,  852. 

Department  Libraries  of  Govern- 
ment, 304. 

DepartmcntSj  collegiate,  in  Harvard, 
29 ;  of  National  Educational  Asso- 
ciation, 123. 

De  Pauw  University  Normal  School, 
144, 

Dependents,  education  of,  243. 

Depot  of  charts  for  the  navy,  322, 

Design,  schools  of,  272,  361,  363. 

Dewey,  Chester,  163, 167. 


INDEX. 


391 


Dexter,  F.  B.,  177. 

Dickinson  College,  physics  in,  IGO. 

Didactics  in  college  courses,  143, 
145 ;  in  Iowa  University,  145. 

Dillaway,  C.  K.,  history  or  Koxbury 
free  school,  16. 

Dillwortli,  Schoolmaster's  Assistant, 
67 ;  Speller,  66. 

Dissenters,  inliucnce  on  colonial  edu- 
cation, 54. 

District  libraries,  299. 

District  system,  84,  96,  99,  115. 

Dix,  John  A.,  101. 

Dock,  Christopher,  56, 149. 

Doddridge,  Master,  65. 

Domestic  economy,  230. 

Dorchester,  early  schools  of,  15. 

Dorchester  (S.  C.)  Seminary,  59. 

Dordrecht  Latin  School,  5. 

Dorr,  Thomas  W.,  110. 

Dort,  Synod  of,  5. 

Double-headed  school  system,  70. 

Drawing,  industrial,  229. 

Drew  Theological  Seminary,  267. 

Dudley,  Joseph,  28. 

Dummer  School,  71. 

Dunshee,  H.  W.,  11. 

Dunster,  Henry,  23-26. 

Durant,  Henry  F.,  368. 

Dutch,  the,  in  New  York,  58 ;  West 
India  Company,  9. 

Dwight,  Edmund,  131. 

Dwight,  Nathaniel,  geography,  68. 

Dwight,  Timothy,  21,  65. 

Earlham  College,  372. 

Early  colleges,  table  of,  77. 

Eaton,  Amos,  163 ;  Survey  of  New 
York,  320. 

Eaton,  John,  United  States  Commis- 
sioner of  Education,  309. 

Eaton,  John,  8. 

Eaton,  Nathaniel,  23. 

Ecclesiastical  history  in  early  col- 
leges, 175 ;  societies,  97. 

Economic  associations,  291 ;  studies, 
179. 

Edinburgh  High-School,  71. 

Educational  associations,  117 ;  his- 
tories, 150 ;  journalism  in  New 
England,  151 ;  literature,  148 ; 
periods,  347 ;  reports,  154 ;  revival, 
149. 

Education  and  sovereignty,  3 ;  and 
the  General  Government,  307 ;  in 
the  South,  347;  of  defective  classes, 


243  ;  of  girls,  68  ;  of  women,  362 ; 
universal,  4. 

Edwards,  Jonathan,  30,  42. 

Elective  courses,  186,  198. 

Elementary  instruction  a  private  in- 
terest, 59. 

Elementary  schools  of  Europe,  Stowe, 
130. 

Eliot,  John,  the  Indian  teacher, 
254. 

Elizabeth  Aull  Seminary,  231. 

Elmira  Female  College,  366. 

Emerson,  G.  B.j  18. 

Endowed  libraries.  298. 

Endowment  of  colleges,  35,  76,  204, 
207,  208. 

Engineering,  instruction  in,  227. 

English  academies,  71,  72 ;  ele- 
mentary schools,  62 ;  local  govern- 
ment, 3 ;  occupation  of  New  York, 
53 ;  origin  of  American  schoolsj  1 : 
schools  for  women,  362  ;  technical 
ti'aining,  223 ;  youth  in  Harvard, 
26. 

English  High  School,  Boston,  338. 

English  Eeader,  the,  67. 

En2lish,  the  study  of,  in  colleges, 
173.  , 

Episcopacy  in  New  York,  54,  73  ;  in 
Virginia,  13. 

Erasmus  Hall,  72. 

Erie  Canal,  geology  of,  164. 

Essays  on  popular  education,  130. 

Essential  studies,  194. 

Essex  County  Teachers'  Association, 
121. 

European  schools  (Bache),  129. 

European  university  pedagogy,  144. 

Evening  schools,  269,  271. 

Everett,  Edward,  oration  on  John 
Harvard,  22. 

Examinations,  Harvard,  for  women, 
372. 

Ejmenditures   for  education  in  the 

United  States,  92. 
•Expositions,    industrial,    123,    274; 
and  education,  274. 

Factory  legislation,  329. 

Featherstonhaugh's  survey  of  Ar- 
kansas, 320. 

Feeble-minded,  education  of  the, 
249. 

Fees,  school,  63. 

Fellows,  Dr.  S.  N.,  145. 

Felt,  J.  B.,  46. 


392 


INDEX. 


Female  academics,  Boston,  839,  36'2 ; 

Hartford,     364:      Ipswich,     306; 

Mount      HolyoKe,     366;      Phila- 

delohia,  69  ;  Wat«rfordj  364. 
Female  teachers  in  the  United  States, 

table  of,  380. 
Field,  D.  D.,  212. 
Fiftieth    Report   of    Massachusetts 

Board  of  Lducation,  155. 
Finance    and    Economy,    Wliartou 

School  of,  180. 
Fine-art  scliools,  229. 
Finney,  Rev.  Charles  G.,  370. 
"  First  Fruits  of  J^ew  England,"  25. 
Fisk,  John,  22. 
Fitting  for  the  bar,  213. 
Fitting-schools,  344. 
Five  Nations,  schools  of  the,  261. 
Flatbush  Academy,  71. 
Fleming's  Spelling-Book,  66. 
Fortieth  parallel,  survey  of,  319. 
Framingnam  Normal  Scliool,  131. 
Francke,  Hermann  August,  126. 
Frankfort,  University  of,  5. 
Franklin,  Benjamin,  55,  277,  294. 
Fraser,  Rev.  James,  62,  94,  204. 
Free,  early  academies  not,  73. 
Freedmen's  Aid  Society,  351 ;  of  the 

Methodist  Episcopal' Chuich,  353. 
Freedmen's  Bureau,  351. 
Freeman,  Edward  A.,  181. 
Free  schools.  46. 
"  Free  schools  of  the  United  States," 

62. 
Free  School  Society  of  New  York, 

119. 
Free  school  system  in  the  South, 

58. 
Fremont,  explorations  of,  819. 
French  language,  instruction  in,  171. 
Friends'  school  in  Philadelphia,  55. 
Froebcl,  2,  332. 
Froebel  Kindergarten,  333. 
Frothingham,  3. 
Froude,  J.  A.,  181. 

Gallaudet,  Rev.  T.  H.,  12S,  244. 
Garfield,  J.  A.,  266. 
Geneva,  education  in,  7. 
Geographical  surveys,  318. 
Geoirraphies,  68. 
Geological  surveys,  819. 
Geology,  158,  163. 
German  immigration,  171. 
German  inlluence  in  Pennsylvania, 
55. 


German  local  self-government,  8. 

Germantown  Academy,  56,  72. 

Germany,  parochial  schools  of.  6. 

Gilman,  D.  C,  1, 106,  285  ;  classifi- 
cation of  universities,  202. 

Girls,  education  of,  4, 68 ;  High-School 
of  Boston,  339,  362 ;  in  Boston 
schools,  108  ;  in  Pennsylvania 
Charter  School,  69. 

Goldsmith,  Roman  history,  67. 

Goths,  the,  3. 

Government,  the,  and  education,  807; 
Indian  schools  of,  255 ;  libraries 
of,  303  ;  publications,  324. 

Grading  schools,  331 ;  colonial 
schools,  52. 

Graduate  courses,  200. 

Graduates  of  Harvard,  20 ;  of  Will- 
iam and  Mary,  36. 

Grammar  in  Boston  schools,  68. 

Gri\mmar-schools,  18,  46,  62,  72,  831. 

Gray,  Asa,  167. 

"Great  schools"  of  Holknd,  5. 

Greek  Societies,  origin  of,  in  United 
States,  76. 

Greeley  .\rctic  Expedition,  822. 

Green,  Prof.  S.  S.,  in  Brown  Uni- 
versity, 145. 

Gregory,  J.  M.,  lectures  on  pedagogy, 
145. 

Grimke's  arraignment  of  the  classics, 
121. 

Grimm  brothers,  171. 

Group  system  or  studies,  199. 

Gustavus  Adolphus,  4. 

Guvot,  Arnold,  lectures  on  geogra- 
p'hy,  201. 

Hall,  James,  164. 

Hall,  expedition  to  the  Arctic,  322. 

Hall,  G.  S.,  249;  bibliogr.iphy  of 
education,  150 ;  Boston  lectures 
on  pedagogy,  146;  resignation  of, 
147:  university  lecture  at  Johns 
Hopkins,  146. 

Hall,  S.  R.,  128 ;  the  American 
Ilccker,  129. 

Hamilton  College,  origin  of,  254. 

Hammond,  Charles,  72. 

Hammond,  Governor  of  South  Caro- 
lina, 62. 

Hampden,  8. 

Hams,  W.  T.,  exposition  of  the 
Kindergarten,  156  ;  lectures  on 
pedagogy,  146;  school  reports  of, 
156 ;  Summer  School  of  Philoso- 


INDEX. 


S93 


pliy-j  278;  Superintendent  of  St. 
Louis  Schools,  111. 

Hartford,  first  scliools  in,  18 ;  Teach- 
ers' Institute,  124. 

Harvard  College,  20;  and  William 
and  Mary,  35 ;  charter,  28 ;  cur- 
riculum, 24,  25,  28,  194;  elective 
courses,  191;  graduate  courses,  200, 
201 ;  hastens  the  Revolution,  30  ; 
instruction  in  economics,  183  ;  in- 
struction in  history,  174 ;  lectures 
in  pedagogy,  146 ;  lotteries  of,  88 ; 
museum  of,  274;  opposes  the  found- 
ing of  Williams  College,  75 ;  phys- 
ics in,  160. 

Harvard,  John,  21-23. 

Hassler,  Prof.,  Superintendent  of 
Coast  Survey,  317. 

Hawley,  Gideon,  101. 

Haworth,  J.  M.,  superintendent  of 
Indian  schools,  257. 

Hayden,  F.  V.,  survey  of  Rocky 
Mountains,  320 ;  United  States 
geologist,  320. 

Haygood,  Rev.  A.  G.,  356. 

Hecker,  J.  J.,  126. 

Henrico  College,  Virginia,  15,  31. 

Henry,  Prof.  Joseph,  at  Princeton, 
161 ;  Secretary  ot  the  Smithsonian 
Institution,  314. 

Herriot,  Thomas,  167.  _ 

Heterogeneous  population  of  Penn- 
sylvania, 56. 

Hunt,  Helen,  work  among  Indians, 
253. 

High-School,  Edinburgh,  71. 

High-schools,  evening,  270;  list  of, 
noticed,  339 ;  commi-xsioned,  346 ; 
of  Michigan,  345;  of  Minnesota, 
346. 

High-School,  the,  for  girls,  339 ;  func- 
tion of,  343 ;  legal  aspect  of,  340 ; 
objections  to,  340 ;  of  Michigan, 
345;  of  Minnesota,  346. 

Hill,  Thomas,  193. 

Historical  libraries  and  seminaries, 
183. 

Historical  societies,  291. 

Historical  transactions,  Webster,  67. 

Histories  of  education.  State,  150. 

History,  a  branch  of  philosophy  or 
language,  175 ;  in  American  col- 
leges, 175  ;  in  Harvard  (early), 
174;  of  education  in  the  United 
States,  176,  178,  184. 

Hobart  College,  physics  in,  160. 


Hoddcr's  Arithmetic,  67. 

Holland,  idea  of  free  schools,  1,  6 ; 
and  Dutch  West  India  Company, 
10.         . 

Hollis.  Thomas,  benefactions  to  Har- 
vara,  29 ;  professorship  of  Natural 
Philosophy,  160. 

Holmes's  American  Annals,  81. 

Homes,  children's,  251. 

Horn-book,  the,  52. 

Houses  of  refuge,  250. 

Howe,  Dr.  S.  G.,  247,  249. 

Howgate  Arctic  Expedition,  322. 

Howland,  John,  49,  62. 

Hubbard's  "History  of  New  Eng- 
land," 23. 

Illinois  College,  119. 

Illinois  Industrial  Convention,  232; 
University,  145 ;  high-school  de- 
cisions, 342  ;  petition  to  Congress. 
232;  reading  circle,  283;  school 
reports,  155. 

Improvement  of  colleges,  149;  of 
schools,  118 ;  of  teacJiers,  120. 

Indiana  lotteries,  87 ;  normal  school, 
138  ;  School  Journal,  152 ;  Teach- 
ers' reading  circle,  283 ;  Teachers' 
Seminary,  130  •  University,  200. 

Indiana  University^  371 ;  chair  of 
Pedagogy,  145 ;  co-education  in, 
371 ;  group  system  of  studies,  200. 

Indian  agency,  256 ;  bureau,  255, 
260 ;  education  in  Virginia,  14 ; 
land  in  severalty  bill,  256 ;  mas- 
sacre in  Virginia,  13,  31 ;  missions, 
253 ;  school  of  William  and  Mary, 
35  ;  schools,  258,  260. 

Indians,  education  of,  15,  253,  259 ; 
Government  control  of,  255 ;  in- 
dustrial education  of,  260 ;  normal 
training  -  school.  259  ^  table  of 
schools,  260;  tneological  educa- 
tion, 211. 

Indian  Territory,  schools  of,  261. 

Industrial  education,  nomenclature 
of,  222 ;  of  Indians,  260 ;  begin- 
nings of,  223 ;  for  teachers,  141 ; 
of  deaf-mutes,  246. 

Industrial  expositions,  274. 

Infantry  and  Cavalry  School,  239. 

Infant  School  Societyi  New  York, 
332. 

Information  bureaus,  184. 

Institutes,  at  Hartford,  124 ;  compul- 
sory attendance  at,  125 ;  in  Now 


394 


INDEX. 


York,  12t;    mechanics,   282;    of 
civics,  291 ;  of  technology,  290, 

lustitutioniil  history,  174. 

Instruction  of  the  blind^  ^7. 

Iowa  University,  didactics  in,  145. 

Ipswich,  early  schools  of,  15. 

Jackson,  Mrs.  H.  H.,  253. 

Jackson,  "Stonewall,"  239. 

James  I,  letter  to  English  bishops, 
30. 

JamestownjNew  York)  schools,  228. 

Jefferson,  Thomas,  3fi,  69,  81 ;  and 
the  University  of  Virginia,  190 ; 
essay  on  instruction  in  Anglo- 
Saxon,  174 ;  interest  in  science,  287. 

Jersey  City,  supervision,  111. 

John  C.  Greene  School  of  Science, 
227. 

John  of  Nassau,  4. 

Johns  Hopkins  University,  history 
in,  183 ;  pedagogy  in,  146 ;  the 
group  system  of,  199. 

Johnson,  Samuel,  54. 

Johnson,  W.  R..  128. 

Jones,  Miss  M.  E.  M.,  137. 

Jones,  Prof.  Hugh,  65. 

Jones,  Dr.  Hiram  K.,  279. 

Jordan.  Dr.  D.  S.,  149,  187. 

Journalism,  educational,  151. 

Journal  of  Biology,  153  ^  of  Chem- 
istry, 153  5  of  Economics,  153  ;  of 
Mathematics,  153  ;  of  Philadelphia 
Academy  of  Science,  292 ;  of  Phi- 
lology, 153;  of  Psycholog}',  153; 
of  Speculative  Philosophy,  278. 

Journals,  school,  150,  152. 

Julian,  M.,  idea  of  central  bureau, 
309. 

"Junto,"  The,  277,294. 

Kalamazoo  College,  145 ;  high^school 
case,  342. 

Kane  Arctic  Expedition,  322. 

Kansas  Normal  School,  137  ;  Univer- 
sity, 198. 

Keller,  Helen,  249. 

Kent,  Chancellor,  81,  82,  215 ;  lect- 
ures in  Columbia  College,  214; 
Commentaries,  215. 

Kentucky  school-lands,  87. 

Kindergarten,  The,  2,  332  ;  train- 
ing-schools, 141,  336;  associa- 
tions, 836 ;  table  of,  837. 

King,  Clarence,  survey  of  fortieth 
parallel,  819. 


King's  College,  53,  73. 

Kitchen  Garden  in  New  York,  231. 

Knox,  John,  7. 

Kriejfcs,  the.  Kindergarten  of,  334. 

Krijsi,  Hermann,  122. 

Laboratory  practice,  lCO-162, 166. 

Laboulaye,  176. 

Lathes  excluded  from  early  teach- 
ers' associations,  121 ;  seminaries, 
363. 

Lafayette  College,  language  studies 
in,  172. 

Laissez/aire  in  education,  330. 

Lancaster,  Joseph,  127, 132. 

Lancasterianism,  127. 

Land  grants  for  education,  88,  90, 
233,  240,  245. 

Land  in  Severalty  Bill  for  Indians, 
256.  ^ 

Lane  Theological  Seminary,  120, 267. 

Langley,  J.  P.,  161. 

La  Salle,  Abbe  J.  B.  de,  126. 

La  Salle  Seminary^  231. 

Latin  accidence,  Bingham,  68 ;  Cliee- 
ver,  51,  68. 

Latin  in  early  Harvard,  25. 

Latin  schools,  5,  11,  18,  51. 

Laurie,  S.  S.,  150. 

Law  a  learned  profession,  209,  216  ; 
libraries,  301. 

Law  of  1642  in  Massachasctts,  16; 
of  1647,  44;  of  1650,  in  Connecti- 
cut, 47. 

Lawrence,  Eugene,  2. 

Lawrence  Scientific  School,  226. 

Law  schools,  early,  214. 

"Laws"  ofPkto,  7. 

Lawyers  in  Eevolutionary  period, 
214. 

Learned  societies,  285;  publications 
of,  291. 

Learned  professions,  209,  221. 

Lectures  on  School-Keeping,  129. 

Legal  aspect  of  higli-schools,  340. 

Legal  education,  212  ;  of  women, 
378. 

Leibnitz,  173. 

Lending  Librarv,  The,  280. 

Leverett,  President  of  Harvard,  28. 

Lewis  and  Clark  Expedition,  818. 

Lewis,  Samuel,  121. 

Leyden,  University  of,  5. 

Liberal  education,  159, 188. 

Libraries,  293  ;  and  learned  socie- 
ties, 285  ;  colonial,  293  ;  college. 


INDEX. 


395 


304 ;  congressional,  SOi ;  circulat- 
ing, 294 ;  departmental,  304 ;  Econ- 
omy, School  of,  306  ;  endowed, 
298  ;  governmental,  303  ;  histori- 
cal, 184;  mercantile,  296;  of  Bu- 
reau of  Education,  310  ;  profes- 
sional, 301 :  public,  297 ;  recent, 
296 ;  school  district,  299  ;  State, 
302 ;  town,  300. 

Lick  Observatory,  166. 

Lieber,  Francis,  1,  175, 179. 

Lincoln,  President,  233. 

Lindsleyj  Philip,  128. 

Lip-reading  by  deaf-mutes,  245. 

Literary  Club,  Cincinnati,  277. 

Literary  Fund  of  Virginia,  62,  86. 

Literature  funds,  85j  86. 

Literature  of  education,  148. 

Local  taxes,  92. 

Locke,  John,  8. 

Lodge,  H.  Cabot,  178. 

Logan,  James,  167 ;  library,  293. 

"  Log  College,"  New  Jersey,  58,  73. 

Longfellow  at  Bowdoin,  172 ;  at  Har- 
vard, 189. 

Long,  Major,  explorations,  318. 

Lotteries,  87. 

Louisiana  school  lands,  87  ;  State 
University,  204. 

Lowell  Institute  Lectures,  18. 

Luther,  Letter  to  Magistrates,  6,  7. 

Lynch  Expedition  to  Africa,  322. 

Lyon,  Mary,  366. 

MacAlister,  James,  Superintendent 
of  Schools,  Philad.elpliia,  111 ;  Ped- 
agogical Catalogue,  151, 

Maclean,  JohUj  162. 

McClure,  William,  Geological  Sur- 
vey, 320. 

McCormick  Observatory,  165. 

McMastcr's  "  History  of  the  People 
of  the  United  States,"  65, 178. 

Maine,  school  system,  50  ;  school- 
funds,  86. 

Mann,  Horace,  2,  18,  43;  and  the 
Massachusetts  system,  96,  103, 
122 ;  controversy  with  the  thirty- 
one  Boston  schoolmasters,  154 ; 
reports,  104,  154. 

Manual-labor  schools,  223,  224. 

Manual-training  schools,  228,  230. 

Marenholtz-Billow,  Baroness,  333. 

Marietta  College,  120. 

Marine  zoology  168. 

Marsh,  George  P.,  201. 


Maryland.  Act  of  1723, 62  ;  teachers 
of  Kcvolutiouary  period,  64. 

Massachusetts  Agricultural  School, 
235 ;  Board  of  Education,  Fiftieth 
Keport  of,  103;  svipervision,  city, 
111 ;  supervision.  State,  103  ;  col- 
ony, 8 ;  Historical  Society,  291 ; 
law  of  1642,  16;  law  of  1647,  44. 
327 ;  nautical  schools,  242  ;  normal 
schools,  125, 130, 133 ;  school-fund, 
history  of,  85 ;  school  system,  4  ; 
Teachers'  Institute,  123 ;  Teacher, 
the,  152. 

Mather,  Cotton,  51. 

Mather,  Increase,  28. 

Maude,  Danyell,  15,  265. 

Mechanics,  education  in,  227. 

Medical  Colleges  admitting  women, 
377. 

Medical  education,  217 ;  of  women, 
375. 

Medical  instruction  in  Columbia, 
219  ;  in  Michigan,  220. 

Medical  libraries,  301. 

Medical  Museum,  Army,  273. 

Medical  schools,  curriculum  of,  220 ; 
distribution  of,  219, 377 ;  early,  218. 

Mennonites  in  Pennsylvania,  56. 

Mercantile  libraries,  296. 

Metallurgy,  instruction  in,  227. 

Methodists,  schools  of.  267. 

Michigan,  high-school  system,  345 ; 
history  of  education  in,  150 ;  lot- 
teries m,  87 ;  normal  schools,  133, 
137 ;  school  reports,  155. 

Michigan  University,  co  -  education 
in,  372;  electives,  195;  graduate 
courses,  201 ;  history  in,  176 ;  law 
lectures  in,  215;  Scnool  of  Politi- 
cal Science,  181 ;  science  and  art  of 
teaching  in,  146 ;  seminaries,  183 ; 
special  courses,  196. 

Miadlesex  County  Teachers'  Associ- 
ation, 121. 

Military  academies,  237,  239;  edu- 
cation, 237  ;  Institute  of  Virginia, 
289 ;  post  schools,  240 ;  tactics  in 
schools.  233,  240. 

Millersvillo  (Pa.)  Normal  School, 
136. 

Milton,  John,  71 . 

Minimum  school  term,  328. 

Minnesota  high-school  system,  346. 

Missouri,  coeducation  in,  372 ;  Uni- 
versity Normal  School,  144 ;  visit- 
ors to  schools,  114. 


396 


INDEX. 


Mitchell,  M'lHS  Maria,  165. 

Mitford,  326. 

Model  schools  of  S.  R.  Hall,  129, 
138 ;  recent,  138. 

Modern  language  studies,  169,  170. 

Modem  normal  schools,  138. 

Aloravian  schools  for  girls,  69 ;  theo- 
logical education,  210. 

Morse,  S.  F.  B.,  161. 

Morse,  Jedediah,  Geography,  68. 

Motley,  4, 5. 

Mount  Holyoke  Seminary,  366. 

Murray,  English  Grammar,  68 ;  Eng- 
lish Reader,  67. 

Museum,  National,  274,  315:  New- 
York,  431 ;  of  Comparative  Zoolo- 
fy,  274 ;  of  Science  and  Art,  272 ; 
'cdagogical,  274. 

Music- Teachers'  Institute,  Boston, 
124. 

National  Educational  Association, 
122:  recommends  a  Bureau  of  Ed- 
ucation, 309. 

National  land  grant,  88,  232 ;  Muse- 
um, 274,  315;  Observatory,  322; 
University  proposed,  308. 

Natural  history,  160,  176,  194. 

Naval  Academy,  241 5  architecture 
in  University  of  Michigan,  242; 
education,  240 ;  expenditures  in  the 
United  States,  322 ;  observatory, 
822 ;  war  college,  242. 

Nautical  training,  240. 

Navy,  department  of  the,  241. 

Nebraska  school  lands,  91. 

Neef,  Joseph,  "  Plan  of  Education," 
149. 

Negative     compulsory     legislation, 

0.>Q_OQA 

NeiU,  E.  b.,  13, 19,  31,  32. 

Neshaminy,  Log  College,  58. 

Netherlands,  idea  of  free  school,  6. 

New  Amsterdam,  10. 

Newberry  Library,  299. 

New  Bntain    Normal  School,  106, 

132. 
Newburyport  high-school  case,  341. 
New  Connecticutj  89. 
New  England  Pnmer,  52,  66. 
New  England  Psalm-Book,  66. 
New  England,  early  schools  in,  14. 
New    Hampshire,  early  schools  in, 

50 ;  school-fund,  85. 
New  Harmony  (Indiana)  Community 

School,  149. 


New  Haven  colony,  18,  51 ;  Training 
School,  221. 

New  Jersey,  College  of,  73 ;  fee  bills, 
64 ;  Newark,  earl^  schools,  57 ; 
pauper-tax,  62 ;  pnor  to  the  Revo- 
lution, 57 ;  reading  circle,  283  ; 
school-fund,  86. 

New  Mexico,  St«te  school  ofiBcer, 
107. 

New  Orleans,  supervision  in,  110. 

New  World,  the,  2. 

New  York,  colonial,  53 ;  city  super- 
vision, 109  I  county  super\'Lsion. 
114  ;  fee  bills^  64  ;  high-school 
system,  338 ;  history  of  education 
in,  9,  150;  Indastrial  Training- 
School,  141 ;  lotteries.  87 ;  school- 
funds,  85 :  school  lands,  85 ;  school 
reports,  155 ;  Society  Library,  295 ; 
State  system,  101 ;  vs.  New  Eng- 
land, 59. 

Night-schools,  269. 

Nomenclature  of  iDdostrial  educa- 
tion, 222. 

Non-sectarianism  in  colleges,  77, 
203,  206  ;  in  schools,  104. 

Normal  schools,  125;  art,  141 ;  Con- 
necticut, 132 ;  curriculum  of,  136 ; 
early  promoters  of,  128 ;  idea  in 
the  United  States,  127;  in  the 
South,  358 ;  in  New  York,  132 ;  in 
the  university,  143 ;  modem,  133 ; 
objected  to,  in  Boston,  132;  of  the 
University  of  North  Carolina,  145; 
origin  of,  126;  private,  134;  pub- 
lic. 133  ;  State,  130 ;  table  of,  135. 

Nortn  American  Review,  80. 

Northend,  Charles,  122. 

Northwestern  Educational  Associa- 
tion, 122. 

Norwood,  teacher  on  Somers  Island, 
14. 

Nott,  Dr.  E.,  188. 

Nurses'  schools,  231. 

Oberlin  College,  870. 

Objections  to  free    schools,  58;    to 

tigh-schools,  340 ;  to  the  Normal 

School  in  Boston,  131. 
Observatories,  164,  322-. 
"  Odious  Rate  Bill,"  63. 
O'Fallon  Polytechnic  Institute,  225. 
Officers,  civil,  as  school  officers,  102. 
Ohio,  cnarity  education  clause,  63  ; 

school  agent,  121 ;  School  Journal, 

152 ;  school  system,  origin  of,  102 ; 


INDEX. 


397 


teachers'  institutes,  124;  teacliers' 
reading  circle,  282  ;  university, 
203. 

"Old  Soutli"  movement,  279. 

Olmsted,  Denison,  81, 122, 164 ;  grad- 
uating thesis,  128. 

Open  system,  the,  188. 

Ordinance  of  1785,  88,  80  ;  of  1787, 
89. 

Organization  of  Smithsonian  Institu- 
tion, 313 ;  of  universities,  202. 

Origin  of  normal  schools,  126. 

Oswego  Traininw-School,  137,  141. 

Ottawa  University,  Kansas,  peda- 
gogics in,  145. 

Owen,  D.  D.,  survey  of  mineral 
lands,  320. 

Page,  David  P.,  132. 

Palmer,   Edward,  island  school  of, 

32. 
Palmer,  Prof.  G.  H.,  concerning  elec- 

tives,  198. 
Pamphlet  literature  in  college  libra- 
ries, 306. 
Parallel  courses  in  college,  189, 199. 
Pardee  School  of  Science,  227. 
Parishes  in  Connecticut,  97,  98. 
Parish  schools  in  the  United  States, 

268  ;  of  Germany,  6. 
Parton,  James,  294. 
Pauper  schools.  62. 
Patroons,  Duten,  in  New  York,  10. 
Payne,  Joseph,  150.   • 
Payne,  W.  H.,  124. 
Peabody  fund,  354 ;  distribution  of, 

356. 
Peabody,  George,    benefactions    of, 

854. 
Peabody    Library,    Baltimore,    vii, 

298. 
Peabody,  Miss  E.,  and  the  Kinder- 

ffiirten,  333. 
"  Peace  policy "  with  the  Indians, 

255. 
Pedagogical  library,  310 ;    museum, 

274 ;  literature,  148. 
Pedagogy,  college  training  in,  144  ; 

in  European  universities,  145  ;  in 

University  of  City  of  New  York, 

147 :  in  Johns  itopkins,  146 ;  in 

Micnigan,  146. 
Peers,  B.  O.,  121. 
Penalty  under  Massachusetts  law  of 

1647, 46 ;  in  New  Hampshire,  1693, 

50. 

26 


Penn  Charter  School,  55,  63,  69. 

Pennsylvania,  county  supervision, 
115;  history  of  education  in,  54, 
150 ;  Historical  Society,  287 ;  pau- 
per schools,  62,  63 ;  prior  to  the 
Eevolution,  54 :  school-fimds,  86  ; 
School  Journal,  152 ;  Bchool-tax, 
92  ;  university  of,  74. 

Periodicals,  educational,  151 ;  in  col- 
leges, 153. 

Perkins's  Institution  for  the  Blind, 
249. 

Permanent  funds  and  local  taxes,  92. 

Permissive  school  legislation,  328. 

Pen-y,  Captain,  expedition  to  Japan, 
322. 

Phi  Beta  Kapf)a  Fraternity,  76. 

Philadelphia,  academy  founded,  74  ; 
Academy  of  Natural  Sciences,  286, 
292;  city  school  system,  111 ;  nor- 
mal school,  132;  pauper  schools, 
63  ;  public  library,  294. 

Philbrick,  J.  D.,  112,  117,  155. 

Phillips  Academics,  71. 

Philological  studies,  173. 

Philosophical  clubs,  277;  societies, 
287. 

Philosophy,  as  related  to  education, 
148  ;  in  American  colleges,  169. 

Physical  sciences,  159. 

Physics,  160 ;  in  early  Harvard,  24, 
29. 

Physics  and  Chemistry  in  the 
Schools  of  the  United  States, 
159. 

Pickering,  Prof.,  laboratory  of,  161. 

Pickett,  Albert,  121. 

Pierce,  spelling-book,  66. 

Pierce,  J.  D.,  Superintendent  of 
Michigan,  104. 

Pierson,  Rev.  A.,  Rector  of  Yale,  39. 

Pike.  Major,  expedition  of,  318. 

Pike's  Arithmetic,  67. 

"  Plan  of  Education"  (Neef),  149. 

Plato,  3,  7. 

Plymouth  Colony  schools,  15. 

Plymouth  masters,  50. 

Political  education,  179. 

"  Political  Ethics'*  (Licber),  175. 

Political  Science,  Columbia  School 
of,  180 ;  Johns  Hopkins  School  of, 
183 ;  Michigan  School  of,  181 ; 
Quarterly  Journal,  153  ;  White 
school  01,  181. 

Politics  in  early  Harvard,  30. 

Polytechnic  schools,  228. 


398 


INDEX. 


Population,  (growth  of,  10. 

Porter,  Noali,  16'J. 

Powell,  Major  J.  W.,  Director  of 
Geological  Survey,  32(». 

Practice  schools  for  teaclicrB,  130. 

Pratt,  Captain  K.  II.,  260. 

Praying  towns,  254. 

Preparation  of  teachers,  117,  142. 

Preparatory  schools,  70,  338,  369. 

J'resbyterian  Board  for  i'rocdmen, 
353. 

Presbyterian  schools,  267. 

Prescribed  course,  the,  199  ;  of  Har- 
vard, 194. 

Primary  schools,  331 ;  of  Boston,  82, 
132,  332. 

Prince,  J.  T.,  "Courses  and  Meth- 
ods," 113. 

Prince  Library,  the,  293. 

Princeton  College,  73,  227 ;  firet 
chair  in  chemistry,  102;  graduate 
courses,  202. 

Principles  of  the  commoD-scbool 
system,  43. 

Printing  press,  the,  at  Harvard, 
27. 

Privately  endowed  universities,  202, 
204,  203. 

Private  schools,  264 ;  normal  schools, 
134. 

Professional  libraries,  301 ;  educa- 
tion of  women,  375 ;  schools  in  the 
South,  359 ;  studies,  136. 

Professions,  the,  209 ;  liberal,  221 ; 
women  in,  375. 

Pofessorships  of  pedagogy  in  col- 
leges, 144. 

Protestantism  and  free  schools,  2. 

Protestant  Reformed  Dutch  Church, 
school  of,  10. 

Providence,  R.  I.,  school  report  of, 
155;  supervision  in,  110. 

Provinces,  Catholic,  268. 

Prussian  school  system,  129. 

Psalm-Book,  the  New  England, 
66. 

Psychologj'  in  normal  schools,  139, 
148;  Journal  of,  158;  pedagogical, 
140;  school  of,  in  the  University 
of  the  Pacific,  144. 

Publications  of  Bureau  of  Education, 
810;  of  Smithsonian  Institution, 
815. 

Public  Education  Society  of  Phila- 
delphia, 111. 

Public  (free)  Kindergarten,  S35. 


Public,  libraries  297;  normal 
schools.  133 ;  schools  in  the  South, 
357  ;  lioraries  in  the  South,  860. 

Public  School  Society  of  New  York, 
82,  127. 

Puritans,  2. 

Purioont,  Philemon,  14, 16,  265. 

Quakers,  the,  in  Pennsylvania,  55. 
Qualifications  of  tcaclicfs,  50,  64, 117, 

I'-'O,  136,  147. 
Quarterly  Journal  of  Economies,  184. 
Queen's  College  founded,  75. 
Quick,  R.  H.,  144, 15<). 
Quincy,  Joeiah,  21,  51. 

Rafinesquc,  149. 

Kalcigh,  Sir  W.,  8. 

Kate  bills,  15,  19,  45,  55,  63. 

Reading  books,  67. 

Reading  circks,  279,  284. 

Reading  scliools,  Boston,  70. 

Recent  colleires,  158,  186. 

Redwood  Library,  294. 

Reformation,  the,  and  free  whools,  2. 

Reformatories,  250 ;  industiial  train- 
ing in,  252. 

Reformed  Dutch  Church,  10. 

Reform  schools,  251 ;  curriculum  of, 
252. 

Regents  of  the  University  of  the 
State  of  New  York,  202. 

Regulations  in  early  Harvard,  25; 
in  William  and  Mary  College,  36. 

Religious  tests  in  Y'alc,  42. 

Renaissance,  the  American,  82. 

Rensselaer  School,  the,  224. 

Reorganization,  period  of,  79 ;  in  the 
South,  347. 

Reports,  of  educational  institutions, 
154;  of  city  systems,  155 ;  of  col- 
leges, 157;  of  Horace  Mann,  154; 
of  St.  Louis,  155. 

Representative  town  government  in 
New  England,  14,  16. 

"Republic,"  the,  of  Plato,  7. 

Reservation  Indians,  256. 

Review  courses  in  college,  143. 

Revolutionary  period,  61. 

Kheims,  normal  school  at,  126. 

Rhode  island,  first  schools  in,  19, 
49;  history  of  education  in,  150, 
295 ;  lotteries  in,  88 ;  early  idea 
of  education,  62 ;  School  Commis- 
sioner, 106;  school  fees,  64;  school- 
funds,  86;    school   reports,   155; 


INDEX. 


399 


school  system,  49,  58;  teachers' 
institutes,  124;  reading  circle, 
'283. 

Richards,  Zalraon.  122. 

Rickoff,  A.  J.,  ana  the  Ohio  schools, 
112. 

Riley,  J.  B.,  258. 

Riparian  lands.  New  Jersey,  91. 

Kittcnhouse,  David,  287. 

Ritter,  158. 

Roebhng,  W.  A.,  224. 

Robinson,  John,  8. 

Roelandsen,  A.,  10, 12. 

Roman  history.  Goldsmith,  67. 

Round  Table,  the,  of  the  West,  279. 

Roxbury  School,  the,  16;  early  touch- 
ers 0^  60. 

Royal  Society  of  London,  28,  40 ; 
origin  of.  286. 

Runitbrd  cnair  of  Science,  225. 

Russell,  J.  Scott,  223,  234. 

Russell,  William,  128, 158. 

Rutgers  College,  75. 

St.   Louis  philosophical  club,   277; 

school  reports,  155,  156 ;  training- 
school,  140. 
St.  Mary's  Nautical  School,  241. 
Salaries  of  early  college  presidents, 

29;  of  teachers,  12,  15,  52. 
Salem,  early  schools  of,  15 ;  library, 

295. 
Saline  lands,  91. 
Sandys,  Sir  Edwin,  12,  31. 
San  traneisco  Training-School,  141. 
Saracens,  the,  2,  4. 
Saybrook  school,  39. 
Scharf.  Thomas,  64. 
Schmidt's  "  Historv  of  Education," 

5. 
School-books,  66. 
School  district  libraries,  299. 
School  fees,  13. 
School-funds,  83 ;  Burlington,  New 

Jersey,  57 ;  commissioner  of,  in 

South  Carolina,  86. 
School  journals,  151. 
School  lands  unsold,  91. 
Schoolmasters'  Club,  the,  279. 
School  of  Design,  the,  for  Women, 

225. 
School  of  library  economy,  306. 
School  of  Mines  Quarterly,  153. 
School  of  psychology,  144. 
School  societies,  96,  98, 100. 
School  suffrage  for  women,  3S1. 


School  system,  American,  1 ;  State, 
101, 

School-tax,  10,  92. 

School  term,  19,  49,  329. 

*'■  ScAHl-ordnung"  56,  149. 

Schurz,  Mrs.  Carl,  333. 

Science  and  the  arts,  225 ;  in  early 
Yale,  41;  in  the  college  cour.se, 
168;  museums  of,  272 ;  teachers' 
class  in,  274. 

Scientific  academies,  285 :  depart- 
ments in  colleges,  225 ;  journals, 
153 ;  work  of  government,  316. 

Scotland,  education  in,  7. 

Sears,  Barnas,  agent  of  Feabody 
fund,  355. 

Secondary  schools,  338 ;  of  the  Revo- 
lutionary period,  70. 

Sections  of  National  Educational  As- 
sociation, 123. 

Seeley,  Prof.,  170. 

Seminaries,  ladies',  363 ;  iu  the  uni- 
versity, 183. 

Seventeenth  century,  2. 

Sewing,  instruction  in,  230. 

Seymour,  Attorney-General,  34. 

Sharp  Library  of  New  York,  293. 

Shaw,  John  A.,  Superintendent  of 
New  Orleans  Schools,  110. 

Shaw,  Mrs.  Q.  A.,  Kindergartens 
supported  by,  336. 

Sheffield  Scientific  School,  197,  220. 

Shepard,  Thomas,  20. 

Sherman,  General  W.  T.,  239,  256. 

Sibley  Scientific  School,  227. 

Signal  Service  J  321. 

Sign-method  in  deaf-mute  instruc- 
tion, 245. 

Siffourney,  Mrs.  L.IL,  121. 

Silli man,  Benjamin,  65,  162;  Jour- 
nal, 292. 

Slater  fund,  356. 

"  Small  schools  "  of  Holland,  5. 

Smart,  J.  II.,  124. 

Smith  Collesre,  369. 

Smith,  Goldwin,  181. 

Smith,  Prof.  Walter,  229. 

Smithson  bequest,  the,  311. 

Smithson,  James,  311. 

Smithsonian,  the,  285,  311,  312; 
museum,  274,  315;  Prof.  Heury 
in,  814 ;  the  publications  of, 
315. 

Societies  for  the  promotion  of 
schools,  118;  general,  285;  soieu- 
tiflc,  286;  teachers',  120. 


400 


INDEX. 


Society  for  the  Propagation  of  tlio 
Gospel,  53,  74. 

Society  tor  the  Collegiate  Instruction 
of  Women,  372. 

Society  of  Arts  in  Massachusetts  In- 
stitute of  Technology,  290. 

Society  to  encourage  Studies  at 
Uome.  280 ;  for  home  culture,  280, 

Soldiers'  orphans'  homes,  252. 

Somers  Island,  school  on,  14. 

South  Carolina,  College  of,  163,  171, 
176,  179,  202,  204;  colonial  edu- 
cation, 58,  69 ;  colonization  of, 
58 ;  modem  languages  in,  171 ; 
normal  schools  in,  135 ;  public 
schools  in,  858;  recent  education 
in,  360  ;  school-funds  of,  86. 

South,  J.,  introduction  to  English, 
68. 

South,  the  colonial,  58 ;  ante- war 
period,  348  :  education  in,  347 ; 
general  condition  of,  359 ;  period 
of  reorganization,  350 ;  public- 
school  system  of,  357. 

Spanish,  instruction  in,  at  Colum- 
bia, 172. 

Sparks,  Jared,  175. 

Special  Indian  schools,  260. 

Specializing  in  normal  training,  140. 

Spelling-books,  66. 

Springfield,  supervision  of,  111. 

Spring  Garden  Institute,  225. 

Squadrons  in  Rhode  Island,  96. 

Stages  in  tho  development  of  school 
systems,  94. 

Stanford,  "  The  Art  of  Reading,"  67. 

State  Control,  Boards  of,  lOV ;  gen- 
eral view  of,  107. 

State  Libraries,  302. 

State  Normal  Schools,  130. 

States  of  Northwest  Territory,  89. 

State  Universities,  203,  207,  208. 

Statistics,  school,  154. 

Stiles,  Ezra,  65. 

Story,  Joseph,  122,  175, 188. 

Stoughton,  20. 

Stowe,  Prof.  C.  E.,  121, 130. 

Studies  in  history  and  political 
science,  179,  184. 

Stuyvesant,  11. 

SuMcription  schools,  265. 

Sully,  J.,  150. 

Sumner,  W.  G.,  257. 

Superintendent  of  Schools,  103 ; 
Boston,  110;  Indian,  257;  mode 
of  choosing,  115. 


Supervision  of  schools,  94, 101, 109, 
113 ;  city,  109 ;  county,  113 ;  cariv, 
102,  113;  forms  of,  96;  in  New 
York,  101,  114;  State,  101,  107, 
109. 

Supervisory  university,  202. 

Surplas  revenue,  91,  348. 

Survey,  Coast,  816;  geographical, 
318;  geological,  319. 

Swamp-land  grant,  90. 

Swarthmore  College,  co-education  in, 
372. 

Sweden,  education  in,  4. 

Swedes  in  Pennsylvania,  55. 

Swiss  Cross,  the,  284. 

Switzerland,  early  schools  of,  6. 

Synnnes,  Benjamin,  14. 

Svriac,  instruction  in,  at  Harvard, 
'25. 

Systems,  colonial  school,  43. 

Table  of  State  Universities,  204. 

Tappan,  David,  72. 

Taiwan,  Henry  T.,  President  of 
Michigan  University,  195,  201. 

Taxes,  local  school,  92. 

Teachers,  colonial,  50 ;  female,  380 ; 
elficient,  127  ;  Institute  of,  in  Ohio, 
124;  of  the  Revolutionary  period, 
64;  preparation  of,  117,  120,  136, 
142 ;  proportion  of  the  sexes,  380 ; 
reading  circles,  282;  respect  for, 
50 ;  services  and  pay,  12. 

Technological  cducjition,  221 ;  socie- 
ties, 289. 

Tenncnt,  Kev.  William,  57,  73. 

Tennessee  land  grants  for  colleges, 
86 ;  University  of,  204. 

Terras,  school,  19,  49,  52,  329. 

Territorial  claims  of  the  colonieSj  88. 

Territory,  growth  of,  in  the  United 
States,  79. 

Texas  school  lands,  91. 

Text-books,  elementary,  52,  66. 

Theological  curriculum,  211 ;  edu- 
cation, 210  ;  libraries,  801  ;  train- 
ing for  women,  375 ;  Chautauqua 
School  of,  281. 

Thcologv  as  a  learned  profession, 
209,  211 ;  in  early  colleges,  29,  35. 
39,  41,  76. 

Theory  of  education,  Plato,  6. 

Thirty-one  Boston  schoolmasters, 
154. 

Three-per-cent  fund,  91. 

Ticknor,  Elisha,  127. 


INDEX. 


401 


Ticknor,  Miss  A.  E.,  280. 
Ticknor,  George,  188,  ISS). 
TiUinffhast,  338. 
Tompkins  County  (N.  Y.)  Institute, 

124. 
Topography,  changed  meaning  of, 

321. 
Towne  Scientific  School,  227. 
Town  meeting,  the,  16. 
Township  system,  the,  99,  115. 
Town,  the,  in  JSiew  En^'land,  97 ; 

libraries,  300. 
Town,  Salem,  124. 
Tractate,  Milton,  71. 
Trade,  growth  of,   in    the    United 

States,  80. 
Trade-schools,  231. 
Transition,  period  of,  79. 
Translation   of  pedagogical  works, 

150. 
Treaties  with  Indians,  256. 
Trinity  School,  New  York,  53,  74. 
Troy  Female  Seminary,  364. 
Truant  laws,  328. 
Tulane  University,  200. 
Types  of  imiversity,  202. 

Unfortunate  classes,  education  of, 
243. 

Union  of  Connecticut  colonies,  48. 

Union  of  Utrecht,  5. 

Union  College,  engineering  in,  220 ; 
French  in,  171 ;  physics  in,  160. 

University  Convocation,  121. 

University,  Chautauqua,  281 ;  nor- 
mal schools  in,  143 ;  of  North  Car- 
olina, 145,  160;  of  Pennsylvania, 
77,  178,  180 ;  of  the  city  of  New 
York,  145, 189 ;  of  the  Pacific,  144 ; 
of  the  State  of  New  York,  74,  202 ; 
of  Virginia,  189;  organization,  24, 
202  ;  privately  endowed,  204,  208  ; 
the  function  of,  77. 

Unsettled  educational  questions,  383. 

Unsold  school  lands,  91. 

Utioii  Convention,  121. 

Utility  of  modern  languages,  170. 

Utrecht,  Union  of,  5. 

Vassar  College,  367. 

Vermont,   colonial   system,  50 ;  fee 

bilU,  50;  local   supervision,  114; 

University  of,  204. 
Veterinary  schools,  220,  234,  236. 
Virginia,  colonial  university,  13,  SO  ; 

early  schools,  12, 14;  lanll  cession. 


89  ;  literature  fund,  86 ;  University 
of,  189,  208,  215. 
Virginia  Company,  12,  32. 

Wabash  College,  120. 

Wade,  L.  S.,  113. 

Wagner  Free  Institute,  225. 

Wait,  Green  &  Co.,  Journal  of, 
151. 

Wallace,  S.  T.,  222. 

Warner  Observatory,  160. 

War  of  1812,  79. 

Washington  Academy,  72. 

Washington,  George,  308  ;  Chancel- 
lor of  William  and  Mary  College, 
34, 77  ;  on  higher  education,  149, 
308. 

Watts,  Isaac,  65. 

Wayland,  Francis,  149,  151. 

Weather  predictions,  321. 

Webster,  Daniel,  44. 

Webster,  Noah,  127  ;  text-books  of, 
66. 

Wellesley  College,  368. 

Western  Academic  Institute,  121. 

Western  Baptist  Educational  Asso- 
ciation, 119. 

Western  colleges,  195. 

Western  College  Society,  119. 

Western  Literary  Institute,  121. 

Western  Eeserve,  85,  89 ;  College  of, 
120. 

Westfield  Normal  School.  131. 

West  Point  Military  Academy,  237. 

Wharton  School  of  Finance  and 
Economy,  180. 

Wheaton,  "  International  Law,"  324. 

Wheedon,  Professor.  176. 

Wheelock,  Eleazar,  75,  254. 

White,  Andrew  D.,  176,  181,  184. 

White,  E.  E.,  3,  8. 

Whitcfield,  30,  42. 

White  School  of  History  and  Politi- 
cal Science,  181. 

Witrglesworth,  30. 

Wiihttnan,  Joseph,  232. 

Wilkes  (Captain)  Expedition,  322. 

Willard,  Mrs.  Emma.  121,  264. 

Willard,  President  of  Harvard,  29. 

William  of  Holland,  5. 

William  and  Mary  of  England,  33. 

William  and  Mary  College,  30;  Chan- 
cellor of,  34;  curriculum  of,  35, 
160  ;  French  in,  171 ;  marriage  of 
professors,  37  ;  physics  in,  160 ; 
vs.  Harvard,  35. 


402 


INDEX. 


Williams  College  founded,  15 ;  ex- 
ploring parties,  164;  history  in, 
175 ;  language  chairs,  171 ;  phys- 
ics in,  16U. 

Wilson,  John,  20. 

Windsor,  Jastin.  Narrative  and  Crit- 
ical History  ot  America,  178. 

Winterbotham,  72. 

Wiathrop,  John,  8,  20. 

Wisconsm  University,  tmning  in 
pedagogy,  145. 

Woodbridge,  W.  C,  151. 

Woolman's  "  First  Book,"  66. 

Woolsey,  T.  D.,  197. 

Women,  colleges  for,  365 ;  excluded 
J'rom  earlv  teachers'  associations, 
121  :  higuer  education  of,  362 ; 
theological  education  of,  375  ;  med- 
ical education  of  375  ;  in  normal 
Bchools,  379 ;  in  European  schools, 
862  ;  as  teachers,  51,  378  ;  legal 


education  of,  378  ;  school  suffrage 

for,  381. 
Wouter  Van  Twiller,  10. 
Writing-schools,  Boston,  69. 

Yule  College,  founding  of,  87 ;  aided 
by  the  State,  77 ;  chemistry  in, 
162  ;  courses  in  economics,  183  ; 
early  embarrassmentB  of,  39 ;  elec- 
tions in,  197  ;  graduate  instruc- 
tion, 201 ;  historv'  in,  175 ;  modem 
languages  inj  172;  physics  in,  160, 
161 :  theological  instruction  in,  163. 

Yale  College  Society,  119. 

Yale,  Elihu,  40. 

Zealand  school  law,  3. 

Zimmcrmann,  Comparative  Gram- 
mar, 173. 

ZoSlogv  instruction,  166  ;  Museum 
of,  274. 


THE  END. 


BOOKS  FOR  TEACHERS. 

Spencer's  Education : 

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law.    Price,  |l.75. 

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This  is  a  practical  book  by  an  experienced  teacher.  Tlie  subject  of  cdncation 
is  treated  in  a  h vsteiuai  ic  and  couiprobeuhi ve  manner,  and  shows  liow  rational 
proceetcs  may  be  substituted  for  t-chool-room  routine.    Price,  $1.50. 

Baldwin's  Art  of  School  Management. 

Ttiis  is  a  very  helpful  hand-book  for  the  teacher.  He  will  find  it  full  of  prac- 
tical f  ucj^estioiiB  in  r.!i:ard  to  all  the  details  of  school-room  work,  and  how  to 
manage  It  to  boat  advautn^-e.    Price,  $1.50. 

Greenwood's  Principles  of  Education  Practically  Applied. 

The  object  of  this  work  throughout  is  to  impress  this  important  question 
npon  the  mind  of  the  teacher;  '^  How  s/iall  I  teach  so  ax  to  have  my  pupils 
become  telf-reliant,  independent,  manly  men  and  womanly  women?"  Price, 
$1.00. 

Sully's  Outlines  of  Psychology, 

WITH  SPECIAL  KEFERKNCE  TO  THE  THEORY  OP  EDUCATION. 
Price,  $1.00. 

Sully's  Hand-Book  of  Psychology, 

ON  THE  BASIS  OF  OUTLINES  OP  PSYCHOLOGY.  A  practical  exptisi- 
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of  Teaching,  designed  for  the  use  of  Schools,  Teachers,  Reading  Circles,  and 
Students  generally.    Price,  $1.50. 

Bain's  Moral  Science. 

A  COMPENDIU.U  OP  ETHICS.  Divided  into  two  dlvieionB.  The  first— 
the  Theory  of  Ethics— treats  at  length  of  the  two  srrcat  questions,  the  ethical 
standard  and  the  moral  faculty;  the  second  division — on  the  Ethical  Systems 
— is  a  full  detail  of  all  the  systems,  ancient  and  modern,  by  conjoined  abttnict 
and  summary.    Price,  $1.50. 

Mc Arthur's  Education, 

IN  ITS  RELATION  TO  MANUAL  INDUSTRY.  The  important  subject 
of  manual  education  is  thotonghly  and  clearly  treated.    Price,  $1.50. 

Hodgson's  Errors  in  the  Use  of  English. 

A  work  for  the  teacher's  table,  and  invaluable  for  classes  in  grammar  and 
literature.    Price,  $1.50. 

Descrintive  Catnlo^jne  sent  free  on  application.    Special  prices  ivill  be  made  on 
dags  supplies. 

D.  APPLETON  &  CO.,  Publishers, 

New  York,  Boston,  Cliicago,  Atlanta,  San  Francisoo- 


EDUCATION   IN   RELATION   TO 
MANUAL  INDUSTRY. 

By  Arthur  MacArthcr,  LL.  D.      12mo.      Cloth,  $1.50. 

"Mr.  MacArthnr's  able  treatise  is  desigtied  to  adapt  to  the  nenal  method*  of 
inBtrnction  a  Bystem  of  rndimeotal  science  and  manual  art.  He  describes  the 
progress  of  industrial  education  in  France,  Belgium,  Ru8f<ia,  Germany,  and  Great 
Britain,  and  the  establishment  of  their  professional  schools.  The  technical 
schools  of  the  United  States  are  nert  reviewed.  Mr.  Mac.\rthur  is  anxious  that 
the  State  governments  should  take  np  the  subject,  and  enable  every  cirl  and  boy 
to  receive  a  practical  education  which  would  fit  them  for  use  in  this  world.  This 
valuable  book  should  be  carefully  read  and  meditated  upon.  The  discussion  i» 
of  high  importance."— PAi/arf«!pAia  Fublic  ledger. 

"The  importance  of  this  book  can  not  be  too  creatly  nr^d.  It  gives  a 
Btatietical  account  of  the  industries  of  various  countries,  the  number  of  workmen 
and  workwomen,  and  the  degree  of  perfection  attained.  America  is  behind  in 
native  production,  and.  when  we  read  of  the  importation  of  foreign  workmen  in 
simple  manufacture  snch  as  glass,  it  is  a  stimulus  for  young  men  to  train  them- 
selves  early  as  is  done  in  foreign  countries.  The  necessity  of  trainins-schools 
and  the  valae  and  dignity  of  trades  are  made  evident  in  this  work.  It  is  particn- 
larly  helpful  to  women,  as  it  mentions  the  variety  of  employments  which  they 
can  practice,  and  gives  the  success  already  reached  by  them.  It  serves  as  a  his- 
tory and  encyclopaedia  of  facts  relating  to  industries,  and  is  very  well  written."— 
Boston  Globe. 

"The  advocates  of  industrial  education  in  schools  will  find  n  very  complete 
mannal  of  the  whole  subject  in  Mr.  MacArthnr's  hook.^'— Springfield  RepiMican. 

"  A  sensible  and  much-needed  plea  for  the  estahli!»hment  of  schools  for  indus- 
try by  the  state,  supported  by  the  practical  illustration  of  what  has  been  accom- 
plished for  the  good  of  the  state  by  snch  schools  in  foreign  countries.  Great 
Britain  has  never  regretted  the  step  she  took  when,  recognizing  at  the  Ci7stal 
Palace  Exhibition  her  inferiority  in  industrial  art-work,  she  at  once  established 
the  South  Kensington  Museum,  with  its  annexed  art-schools,  at  a  cost  of  six  mill- 
Ion  dollars."-  The  Critic. 

"The  aim  of  the  book  Is  succinctly  stated,  as  It  ought  to  be,  in  the  preface: 
'What  is  industrial  education  ?  What  are  lis  merits  and  objects,  and,  above  all. 
what  power  does  it  possess  of  ministering  to  some  useful  purpose  in  the  practical 
arts  of  life? '  These  are  questions  about  which  we  are  deeply  concerned  in  this 
country,  and  the  author  has  essayed  to  answer  them,  not  by  an  abstract  discus- 
sion of  technical  instruction,  but  by  giving  a  full  and  accurate  account  of  the 
experiments  in  indnstrial  trainintr  which  have  been  actoally  and  successfully 
carried  out  in  Europe."— iV«M;  York  Sun. 

"  A  most  Interesting  and  suggestive  work  on  a  matter  of  Immediate  and 
universal  Importance."— JV«w  York  Daily  Graphic. 

"An  admirable  book  on  a  much-neglected  subject.  Those  countries  have 
made  the  most  rapid  advance  in  the  line  of  new  iudustries  which  have  paid  th4 
most  attention  to  the  methods  here  recommended  of  primary  instruction.  The 
land  that  neglects  them  will  sooner  or  later  cease  to  be  in  the  front  ranks  of 
applied  science  and  the  useful  arts."— JV'sw  York  Journal  of  Commerce. 


I'or  sale  by  all  booksellen  ;  or  sent  by  mail,  post-paid,  on  receipt  of  prioe. 
New  York:  D.  APPLETON  &  CO..  1.  3.  &  5  Bond  Street. 


A  HISTORY  OE  THE 
UIITED  STATES  AID  ITS  PEOPLE: 

FOR      THE     USE     OF     SCHOOLS. 

BY  EDWARD  EGGLESTON. 

Dr.  Eggleston's  new  History  of  the  United  States  is 
one  of  the  most  interesting  and  attractive  school-books 
ever  published.  The  author  has  used  his  art  as  a  story- 
teller, and  his  experience  as  a  writer,  to  make  American 
history  something  living,  human,  and  real,  and  therefor© 
delightful.  The  illustrations  have  been  secured  from 
original  sources,  and  the  artists  engaged  upon  the  work 
include  some  of  the  most  noted  and  expert  in  this  country. 

CHICAGO  TRIBUNE,  Sept,  32,  1888. 

"Dr.  Egfflestoii  has  prepared  not  only  a  new  American  text-book,  but 
he  has  prepared  it  on  a  plan  combinin>;  so  many  advantages  that  Americana 
many  years  out  of  school  will  find  it  delightful  reading,  althougli  primanly 
designed  for  school  use.  There  is  compacted  in  it  a  narrative  of  our  develop- 
ment from  the  earliest  times  to  the  present.  .  .  .  Adorning  and  enlivening 
it  are  maps  which  keep  pace  with  the  story  and  make  familiar  by  colors 
and  drawings,  specially  contrived  for  episodes  and  epochs,  all  the  surround- 
ings which  fasten  not  merely  events  but  their  full  significance  on  the  mind. 
These  maps  are  to  be  cordially  commended.  .  .  .  The  literary  style  of  the 
book  is  worthy  of  its  scholastic  character.  Edward  Eg^leston  has  long 
loved  the  function  of  the  teacher.  He  has  long  practiced  the  art  of  writing 
good  English.  Combining  that  spirit  and  this  art,  he  ofiers  what  will 
probably  not  be  challenged  as  the  most  pleasing,  the  most  convenient,  and 
the  most  fascinating  popular  text  yet  produced  upon  the  subject  that  ought 
to  be  dearest  to  American  youth." 

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APPLETONS'    READERS. 


SOME  DISTINGUISHING  FEATURES. 

Kodem  Methods  made  easy.— Edacation  ie  a  pro^resgive  Bcience.  Heth 
uda  of  the  last  centnry  must  be  discarded.  The  qaestion  "flow  eliall  we  teacb 
reading  ?  "  is  fully  answered  in  these  books,  and  teachers  who  have  adopted 
aud  followed  this  method  have  greatly  improved  their  schools. 

Word  and  Phonic  Method.— By  taking  at  first  words  with  whicb  the  child 
is  quite  familiar,  aud  which  coutaiu  sounds  easily  distinguished  and  continu- 
ally recurring,  both  teacher  aud  pupil  will  flud  the  founds  a  great  help  in 
reading  new  words  as  well  as  in  acquiring  a  distinct  articulation. 

Spelling.— Words  selected  from  the  lesiioiis  are  given  for  spelling  with 
each  piece,  thus  affording  the  best  opportunity  for  oral  and  written  spelling- 
li-ssons  as  well  as  for  definitions.  lu  the  Tliird,  Fourth,  and  Fifth  Readers, 
graded  exercises  in  spel.ing  analysis,  together  with  daily  leseons  of  words  often 
misspelled  or  mispronounced,  are  placed  in  the  Appendix  for  constant  study. 
With  these  Readers  no  "  Speller"  will  be  needed. 

Illustrations.— The  illustrations  are  beautiful  and  attractive,  and  are  well 
adapted  to  serve  as  a  basis  for  the  language  and  thought  lessons  that  are  so 
prominent  in  these  books. 

Helps  for  Teachers.— Teachers  will  find  in  these  books  a  simple  plan  that 
will  greatly  aid  them;  while  the  notes,  questiont),  and  suggestions  will  help  the 
teacher  to  impart  the  most  instruction  and  the  best  culture,  which  makes  the 
reading-lesson  eomctbing  more  than  a  mere  naming  of  words. 

Oral  Baading.— Proper  oral  expression  depends  on  the  sense.  Get  the  senFe 
of  each  extract  and  the  correct  oral  oxpresMon  will  be  an  easy  matter.  This  is 
the  key-note  to  Professor  Bailey's  excellent  leosone  on  accent,  emphasis,  inflec- 
tion, and  genera]  vocal  expression,  that  are  placed  as  reading-lesaons  in  the 
Third,  Fourth,  and  Fifth  Readers. 

Seleotions.— The  selections  embrace  gems  of  literature  fh)m  leading  authors. 
No  other  readers  include  such  a  wide  range  of  thought,  showing  from  the  sim- 
ple stories  for  children  in  the  earlier  books,  to  the  extracts  from  the  l)e8t  authors 
in  the  Fourth  and  Fifth,  unity  of  design  and  a  Just  appreciation  of  the  needs  of 
pur  schools. 

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aged  nearly  a  million  copies  a  year. 

Indorsements.- These  Readers  hare  received  the  indorsement  of  nearly 
every  educator  of  note  in  the  United  States,  but  the  best  proof  of  their  merits  is 
found  in  the  great  improvement  manifested  everywhere  they  are  used. 

D.  APPLETON  &  CO.,  Publishers, 

NEW  YORK,  BOSTON,  CHICAGO,  ATLANTA,  SAN  FRANCISCa 


APPLETONS' 

STANDARD  GEOGRAPHIES. 


Comprehensive,  Attractive,  up  to  Date. 


THE    SERIES: 

Appletons'  Elementary  Geography. 

This  book  treats  the  subject  objectively,  makes  knowledge  precede 
definitions,  and  presents  facts  in  their  logical  connections,  taking 
gradual  steps  from  the  known  to  the  unknown.  The  work  is  designed 
to  be  elementary,  not  only  in  name  and  size,  but  also  in  the  style 
and  quality  of  its  matter  and  development  of  the  subject.  The  illus- 
trations have  been  selected  with  great  care,  and  the  maps  are  distinct, 
unencumbered  with  names,  accurate,  and  attractive. 

Introduction  price,  55  cents. 

Appletons'  Higher  Geography. 

This  volume  is  not  a  repetition  of  the  Elementary,  either  in  its  mat- 
ter or  mode  of  developing  the  subject.  In  it  the  earth  is  viewed  as  a 
whole,  and  the  great  facts  of  political  as  depending  on  the  physical 
geography  are  fully  explained.  Great  prominence  is  given  to  com- 
merce and  loading  industries  as  the  result  of  physical  conditions.  The 
maps  challenge  comparison  in  point  of  correctness,  distinctness,  and 
artistic  finish.  Special  State  editions,  with  large,  beautiful  maps  and 
descriptive  matter,  supplied  without  additional  expense. 

Introduction  price,  $1.25. 

Appletons'  Physical  Geography. 

The  new  Physical  Geography  stands  unrivaled  among  text-books  on 
the  subject.  Its  list  of  authors  includes  such  eminent  scientific 
specialists  as  Quaekenbos,  Newberry,  Hitchcock,  Stevens,  Gannett, 
Ball,  Merriam,  Britton,  Lieutenant  Stoney,  George  F.  Kunz,  and 
others,  presenting  an  an-ay  of  talent  never  before  united  in  the  mak- 
ing of  a  single  text- book. 

Introduction  price,  $1.60. 

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m>eral  terms  made  to  scfiools  for  introduction  and  excliange. 


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APPLETONS' 
MATHEMATICAL    SERIES. 

FOUR    VOLUMES. 

Beautifully  Illustrated.    The  ObjectiTe  Method 
Practically  Applied. 


THE    SERIES: 

I.   Numbers  Illustrated 

And  applied  in  Language,  Drawing,  and  Reading  Lessons. 
An  Arithmetic  for  Primary  Schools.     By  ANDREW    J. 
RIGKOFF,  LL.  D.,  and  E.  C.  DAVIS. 
Introdactlon  price,  36  cents. 

II.    Numbers  Applied. 

A  Complete  Arithmetic  for  all  Grades.     Prepared  on  the 
Inductive  Method,  with  many  new  and  especially  practical 
features.     By  ANDREW  J.  RICKOFF,  LL.  D. 
Introduction  price,  75  centa. 

III.  Numbers  Symbolized. 

An  Elementary  Algebra.  By  DAVID  M.  SENSENIG,  M.  S., 
Professor  of  Mathematics  in  the  State  Normal  School  at 
West  Chester,  Pa. 

Wlthoat  Answers — Introdnction  price,  91.08. 
With  Answers— Introduction  price,  9l>18* 

IV.  Numbers  Universalized. 

An  Advanced  Algebra.     By  DAVID  M.  SENSENIG,  M.  S. 


These  books  are  the  result  of  extended  research,  as  to  the  best  methods 
now  in  use,  and  many  years'  practical  experience  in  class-room  work  and 
school  s.uiH;rvision. 

Send  for  full  descriptive  circular.  Specimen  copie$  tcill  be  mailed  to 
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APPLETONS' 

STANDARD  SYSTEM  OF  PENMANSHIP 


DESIGNED  TO   PBODUCE 


Free  Practical  Writing  in  ttie  Sctiool-Room. 
PREPARED  BY  LYMAN   D.   SMITH. 


LEAD-PENCIL  COURSE        .        .  THREE   NUMBERS. 

SHORT  COURSE,  TRACING.         .  TWO   NUMBERS. 

SHORT   COURSE     ....  SEVEN   NUMBERS. 

GRAMMAR   COURSE       .        .        .  SEVEN  NUMBERS. 


LEADING   FEATURES. 

1.  They  contain  all  the  excellences  of  the  older  series,  without  their  defects. 

2.  Writing  made  the  expression  of  thought.  Word-buildiug  and  sentence- 
buildins;  constituting  interesting  language-lessons.  The  sentences  are  gems  of 
Ku^lish  literature. 

8.  Writing:  taught  synthetically.  No  tedious  drills  on  parts  of  letters  or 
isolated  letters,  yet  all  the  advantages  of  such  drills  fully  secured. 

4.  The  movement-drill ;  whereby  pupils  acquire  with  certainty  the  real  writing 
movement. 

5.  No  exaggerated  size  of  writing,  which  leads  pupils  to  draw,  rather  than  to 

WRITE. 

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Imperceptible  to  the  pupil. 

7.  Graded  columns  ;  whereby  the  scope  of  moyemcnt  enables  the  pupil  to 
gradually  and  naturally  acquire  the  fore-arm  movement. 

8.  Better  gradation  than  is  found  in  any  other  series. 

9.  A  short  coarse  can  be  easily  arranged  from  the  Eeries  without  affecting  the 
grading. 

10.  They  are  in  accordance  with  the  modem  methods  of  teaching. 

This  system,  thus  dealing  with  whole  letters,  words,  and  sentencep.  rapidly 
advances  the  pupil  by  steps  that  arc  natoial,  progressive,  graded,  clear,  and 
attractive. 


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APPLETONS'  SCIENCE  TEXT-BOOKS. 


In  response  to  the  growin'r  interest  in  the  study  of  the  Natural  Sci- 
ences, and  a  demand  for  improved  text-books  representing  the  more 
accurate  phases  of  scientitic  Itnowlcdfte,  and  the  present  active  and 
widening  field  of  investigation,  arrangements  have  been  made  for  the 
publication  of  a  scries  of  text-books  to  cover  the  whole  field  of  science- 
study  in  High  Schools,  Academies,  and  all  schools  of  similar  grade. 

The  following  are  now  ready.    Others  in  preparation. 

'the  elements  of  chemistry.  By  Professor  F.  W. 
Clarke,  Chemist  of  the  United  States  Geological  Survey.  12mo, 
369  pages. 

THE  ESSENTIALS  OF  ANATOMY,  PHYSIOLOGY, 
AND  HYGIENE.  By  Roger  S.  Tracy,  M.  D.,  Sanitary  In- 
spector of  the  New  York  Board  of  Health.     12mo,  299  pages. 

ELEMENTARY  ZOOLOGY.  By  C.  F.  Holder,  Fellow  of  the 
New  York  Academy  of  Science,  Corresponding  Member  Linna?an 
Society,  etc. ;  and  J.  B.  Holper,  M.  D.,  Cunitor  of  Zoology  of 
Ainericarf  Museum  of  Natural  History,  Central  Park,  New  York. 
12mo,  385  pages. 

A  COMPEND  OF  GEOLOGY.  By  Joseph  Lk  Conte,  Professor 
of  Geology  and  Natural  History  in  the  University  of  California; 
author  of  "Elements  of  Geology,"  etc.     12mo,  399  pages. 

APPLIED  GEOLOGY.  A  Treatise  on  the  Industrial  Relations  of 
Greological  Structure.  By  Samuel  G.  Williams,  Professor  of  Gen- 
eral and  Economic  Geology  in  Cornell  University.    I'imo,  386  pages. 

DESCRIPTIVE  BOTANY.  A  Practical  Guide  to  the  aassifi- 
cation  of  Plants,  with  a  Popular  Flora.  By  Eliza  A.  Youmans. 
12mo,  336  pages. 

PHYSIOLOGICAL  BOTANY.  By  Robert  Bentlet,  F.  L.  S, 
Professor  of  Botany  in  King's  College,  London.  Adapted  to  Ameri. 
can  Schools  and  prepared  as  a  Sequel  to  "  Descriptive  Botany,"  bj 
Eliza  A.  Yocmans.     12mo,  292  pages. 

THE   ELEMENTS   OF  POLITICAL  ECONOMY.     By  J. 

Laurence  Lacohlis,  Ph.  D.,  Assistant  Professor  of  Political  Econ. 
omy  in  Harvard  University.     12mo. 


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list  of  all 


D.  APPLETON  &  CO.,  Publishers, 

NEW  YORK,   BOSTON,  CHICAGO,  ATLANTA,   SAN    FRANCISCO. 


APPLETONS' 

Physical  Geography. 

Prepared  on  a  new  and  original  plan.  Richlj  illustrated  with  en- 
^ravin-jcs,  diagrams,  and  nnaps  in  color,  and  including  a  separate  chapter 
on  the  geological  history  and  the  physical  features  of  the  United  States. 


JOHN  D.  QUACKENBOS,  A.  M.,  M.  D., 

Adjunct  Professor  of  tbe  English  Language  and  Literature,  Columbia  College^ 
New  York,  Literary  Editor. 

JOHN  S.  NEWBERRY.  M.  D.,  LL.  D., 

Professor  of  Geology  and  Palasontology,  Columbia  College. 

CHARLES  H.  HITCHCOCK,  Ph.D., 

Professor  of  Geology  and  Mineralogy,  Dartmouth  College. 

W.  LE  CONTE  STEVENS,  Ph.  D., 

Professor  of  Physics,  Packer  Collegiate  Institute. 

HENRY  GANNETT,  E.  M., 

Chief  Geographer  of  the  United  States  Geological  Survey. 

WILLIAM  H.  DALL, 

Of  the  United  States  National  Museum. 

C.  HART  MERRIAM,  M.  D., 

Ornithologist  of  the  Department  of  Agriculture. 

NATHANIEL  L.  BRITTON,  E.  M.,  Ph.D., 

Lecturer  in  Botany,  Colombia  College. 

GEORGE  F.  KUNZ, 

Gem  Expert  and  Mineralogist  with  Messrs.  Tiffany  &  Co.,  New  York. 

Lieutenatit  GEORGE  M.  STONEY, 

Naval  Department,  Washington. 

The  unique  and  valuable  features  embodied  in  Appletons'  New 
Physical  Geography  place  it,  at  once,  in  advance  of  any  work  of  the  kind 
heretofore  issued.  The  corps  of  scientific  specialists  enlisted  in  the 
preparation  of  this  book  presents  an  array  of  talent  never  before 
united  in  the  making  of  a  single  text-book.  The  confidence  of  teachers 
everywhere  must  at  once  be  secured  when  it  is  known  that  such  a  work 
is  on  the  market. 

Price  for  hiirodudio'i  or  examination,  $l.GO,  Specimen,  pajcs,  etc., 
forwarded  on  application. 

D.  APPLETON  &  CO.,  Publishers, 

NEW  YORK.    BOSTON,   CHICAGO,   ATLANTA,   SAN   FRANCISCO. 


SULLY'S  TWO  GREAT  WORKS. 


Outlines  of  Psychology,  with  Special  Reference 
to  the  Theory  of  Education. 
A  Text-Book  for  Colleges.     By  James  Sully,  A.M.,  Ex- 
aminer for  the  Moral  Sciences  Tripos  in  the  University  of 
Cambridge,  etc.,  etc. 

"  A  book  that  has  been  long  wanted  by  all  who  are  engaged  m  the 
business  of  teaching  and  desire  to  master  its  principles.  In  the  first 
place,  it  is  an  elaborate  treatise  on  the  human  mind,  of  independent 
merit  as  representing  the  latest  and  best  work  of  all  schools  of  psyeho- 
/ogical  inquiry.  But  of  equal  importance,  and  what  will  be  prized  as  a 
new  and  most  desirable  feature  of  a  work  on  mcntab  science,  are  the 
educational  applications  that  are  made  throughout  in  separate  text  and 
type,  so  that,  with  the  explication  of  mental  phenomena,  there  comes  at 
once  the  application  to  the  art  of  education." 

Crown  8vo.     Price,  $3.00. 


Teacher's  Hand-Book  of  Psychology. 

On  the  Basis  of  "  Outlines  of  Psychology."      By  Jamm 
Sully,  M.  A. 

A  practical  exposition  of  the  elements  of  Mental  Science,  with  spe- 
cial applications  to  the  Art  of  Teaching,  designed  for  the  use  of  Schools, 
Teachers,  Reading  Circles,  and  Students  generally.  This  book  is  not  a 
mere  abridgment  of  the  author's  "Outlines,"  but  has  been  mainly  re- 
written for  a  more  direct  educational  purpose,  and  is  essentially  a  now 
work.     It  has  been  heretofore  announced  as  "  Elements  of  Psychology." 

NOTE. — No  American  abndgmenis  or  editions  of  Mr.  Sully s  works 
ire  authorize  except  those  published  by  the  undersigned. 

12mo,  414  pages.     Price,  $1.60. 

D.  APPLETON  &  CO.,  Pubushebs, 
Kew  York,  Boston,  Chicago,  Atlanta,  San  Francisco. 


^ 


T4o2 


UC  SOUTHERN  REGIONAL  LIBRARY  FACILITY 


A    000  709  310    7 


CENTRAL  UNIVERSITY  LIBRARY 
University  of  California,  Saji  Diego 

DATE  DUE 


SEP  2 1  1979 
^i^^^  1979 


a  39 

UCSD  Libr. 

vK: 


V    '  "■ 


